High in the French Alps

We were blessed to wake up to a dusting of snow covering Grenoble, perfect timing for our mini ski break. Andy picked up the hire car in the afternoon and it was with a sigh of relief when we managed to shove everything in. After 20 mins, we found ourselves in the Romanche Valley heading towards La Chazelet, a tiny village 85km south east of Grenoble.

As we wound through the massive mountains of the Oisan region, and past the base of Alpe d'Huez (we could see the zig-zag road, but the top of the mountain itself was in cloud), it became snowier on both sides - although the road was thankfully completely clear. The road took us through numerous tunnels as we slowly climbed.  After passing through the village of La Grave, we turned onto a smaller road immediately and negotiated a series of switch backs that brought us to the hamlet of Les Terrasses.

Continuing on, we crested a spur and were greeted to a panoramic view of a valley with the hamlet of Le Chazelet nestled on the western side. It took our breath away and we were all excited to arrive. The road though the hamlet was narrow and deep in snow. We inched our way along it while trying to decipher the directions given to us at the same time as wondering if we were driving ourselves into trouble when we spotted Andy's work colleagues. They had arrived at the accomodation earlier in the afternoon and were itching to get out on the slopes for a back country explore. Andy was keen to join in,  which meant it was a quick park and unpack before they all headed off. 

We trudged through knee high soft snow to get to Gite le Kairn, our accomodation for the next 3 nights. A traditional stone building, the lodge consisted of two apartments. Our family occupied one side while the boys took the other. After making ourselves comfortable, the sun emerged and I headed out for an explore with Ella and Katy. From La Chazelet we could see the black dots (the boys) high on the ridge on the opposite side of the valley as they made their way up. Gazing north, we spot the peak of Le Meije (3900m) in the distance looking superb in the sunshine. We played around in the soft snow only returning to the apartment when we all got too cold! What an amazing day!

 

Meanwhile, Andy and 4 friends hiked about 400m up to the nearest ridge. Three of them had skis and skins, while the two others had snowshoes and either snowboards or skis strapped to their back. The snow was fresh and soft, but very heavy, which made for slow going both up and down. But eventually they all made it down before sunset and we settled into our Gite with homemade pizzas all round.