Happy 2022!
🇬🇧 Best wishes for 2022!
I wish you a great new year, full of joy. The past one brought its share of wonderful moments. Here are a few happy memories from 2019, the last year we were free to roam around.
Do not hesitate to follow links and click on pictures to see more! If you read some French (Google translate isn't good enough yet), and you're interested in following some of my itineraries, you can find them on visorando.
⚠️ Be patient: the site is rich with pictures; if you live in a location that needs fiber but you're starved from it because your government hasn't got common sense and understands neither the power of distributed and federal systems nor how to leverage territorial assets, pour yourself some tea while waiting for it to load 🍵 (France is a good example of where you can find such inept governments).
⚠️ If you are on a vertical — portrait — display (e.g. a phone), rotate it to landscape mode to get a better experience 🏔.
🇫🇷 Meilleurs vœux pour 2022 !
Je vous souhaite une très belle nouvelle année, pleine de joie. Celle écoulée a apporté son lot d'instants merveilleux. Voici quelques agréables souvenirs de 2019, la dernière année entière où il a été possible de sortir.
N'hésitez pas à suivre les liens (les textes français sont sur ces pages) et cliquer sur les images ! Si vous êtes intéressés à suivre mes itinéraires, vous pouvez les retrouver sur visorando.
⚠️ Soyez patient: le site contient de nombreuses photos ; si la fibre est indispensable là où vous vivez mais que vous mourrez sans l'avoir parce que vos gouvernements sont trop stupides pour comprendre la puissance des systèmes fédéraux ou distribués et n'ont pas la moindre idée de comment utiliser les atouts territoriaux, versez vous une tasse de thé pendant que cela charge 🍵 (la France est un tel pays, doté de gouvernements remarquablement ineptes, cf. * ci-dessous).
⚠️Sur un écran vertical — mode portrait — (e.g. un téléphone), passer en mode paysage pour une meilleure expérience 🏔.
The second half of January gave us a lot of fresh powder. Charmant Som was one of my first nordic outings, followed a couple days later by some alpine off piste riding in Belledonne. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough of the white stuff yet, and I broke 2 ribs after trying to get through shrubs that proved stiffer than expected.
🔗 → 🇬🇧🇫🇷 …The ski season lasted little, and by March end, powder went missing. It was time to pay my yearly visit to Tour Isabelle, the largest arch in the entire Alps.
🔗 → 🇬🇧🇫🇷 …The first days of April saw a huge snow dump in our mountains with over 1m of fresh powder everywhere. On April 5h, the weather cleared up and I left the Belledonne slopes for les Vallons de la Meije.
🔗 → 🇬🇧🇫🇷 …Trou Saint-Michel is a cave in the Vercors that opens in the face a 300m tall limestone cliff.
One can abseil its gallery down (or just scale it down), from the East Vercors ridge, and exit on a ledge for a great view over the Grenoble basin.
🔗 → 🇬🇧🇫🇷 …Between Alsace and Grenoble, we visited Appenzell, the smallest Swiss canton, at the historical core of Switzerland. Its mountains are very similar to Chartreuse or Vercors. Bavaria and Neuschwanstein were next door, and after a quick trip across Austria, we reached Italy and the wonderful Dolomites before heading to Verona and then having great food and wine near Asti.
🔗 → 🇬🇧🇫🇷 …Back in the French Alps, it was time to get ready for the summer season. As the Belledonne and Oisans peaks were still snow capped, a variation around the spectacular Sangle des Arches (Arches ledge loop) seemed like a nice option.
It made such an impression on me that I opted for another hike in Chartreuse before heading for higher mountains: I explored a new way to cross the East ridge, through Pas des Charassons and took the opportunity to go back to Pas de Ragris, Tour Isabelle and Arche Miracle.
🔗 → 🇬🇧🇫🇷 …Dévoluy is slightly higher than Chartreuse and Vercors, culminating at 2800m. With snow taking its time to melt, this was the next obvious destination.
Tête de l'Aupet lies between the 2 main summits of Dévoluy, Grand Ferrand & Grand Obiou, at 2606m.
🔗 → 🇬🇧🇫🇷 …End of June allowed for summiting higher peaks.
Breathtaking views, 2 peaks at 2800m, 15 lakes, over 22km flat distance, a tad above 1900m elevation gain: this was my first return to Belledonne, with pristine lakes and the Toits summits as goals.
🔗 → 🇬🇧🇫🇷 …The heat wave striking Europe made it hard to reach glacier covered summits, as their bergschrunds quickly turned wide open.
There are 2 fascinating summits in North Belledonne: Pic du Frêne, flanked by sheer faces and Pointe de l'Aup du Pont with a 360º view to the whole range.
Early July, we hosted Cate and Piper, our American friends from Colorado. We went to Vercors and saw a few slackliners fall over Grenoble.
I also had a great day in Chartreuse with my daughter Alix.
End July and beginning of August is a good time to hike in Oisans as long as one can avoid the summer crowds. Starting early and going off trail path are good ways to escape tourists.
Late July, I left for Col du Graou, but the terrain put me off and I went to Col du Burlan instead. This proved to be a very good choice!
Early August, I came for the Combeynot lake and double peaks, an equally superb hike.
August is the peak season in the Alps. Despite its popularity, Vercors offers vast expanses of craggy ground, mostly free of humans.
It had been a long time since I'd seen ibexes, so I decided to go for them between Pas de la Balme and Pas Morta.
Belledonne is one of my favorite destinations. Yet, this August, I only went there once. But what a once!
Despite mediocre weather conditions, the terrain and fauna kept me in permanent awe.
Late August, my son Hector and I went to Dévoluy. Grand Ferrand is the second highest peak in that range.
To get to the top, we opted for Canyon and Chorum des Adroits, Col and Chorum de la Cloche; on the way down, we took the Arches Interferrantes and the Vire Olympique down (steep!) the Doline du Gouturier where we saw scores of chamois.
The last days of summer were clear and bright, ideal for hiking in Belledonne. The East and North parts of the range are quite wild and offer spectacular views.
I came there twice during September: the first time I bivouacked in Combe du Merlet, near les Granges, with the plan to explore around Pics du Merlet; the second time, I started early in the morning from Rivier d'Allemont and aimed for Col de la Pierre.
Initially, I wanted to summit both Pic Coolidge and Pic de la Temple, starting from Col de la Temple's bivouac. But strong winds kept me awake a big part of the night, admiring the clear sky, and cold temperatures (my bivy was quite full of ice in the morning) made me go for just Pic Coolidge.
The Cerces range is famous for its golden larches in autumn, and I was eager to come and admire them. Unfortunately, the fall season was short-lived in 2019, and I only had one hike near Névache, exploring Valle Stretta and its incredible Lac Vert, as well as Rochers du Tru and a myriad of other lakes.
Before the first heavy snow falls late November, there was a high pressure weather over Grenoble and it was hard to resist the temptation to have a last hike in the mountains.
I settled for Griffes de l'Ours on the lower Sangle de Belles Ombres.
During November and December, we also toured around cities and enjoyed superb operas: Handel's Giulio Cesare at Milan's Scala, Grétry's Richard Cœur de Lion (Richard Lionheart didn't speak English, as you all know, cf. Assassin's Creed) and Offenbach's La Périchole at Versailles' Opéra Royal, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte at Paris' Théâtre des Champs…
We stayed in Bergamo and Venice too, but there was no concert to attend at the Fenice nor in the two opera houses of Donizzeti's home town.