Mini Road Trip Hautes-Alpes

A snowHead

Last week I grabbed a few days off on what looked like a weather window to go and ski a bit in the Hautes-Alpes, France where snow conditions are currently best. I was only able to take one pair of skis/boots as I was partially on public transport and also had to lug a huge laptop for work meetings on the Monday and Tuesday.

Alpine skis? Touring skis? X-country? I was keen to take touring and x-country but I've done this before then ended up doing one or the other. X-country skating would be lightest and easiest to manage but if I took cross country I wanted to ski a couple of cols which were scheduled to be pisted during the week. I hestitated until Tuesday evening to book accomodation and time off as the weather was very unsettled with a retour d'Est incoming. Finally I put my xc skate skis in the car.

Finally on Wednesday I set off for Cervieres/Laus just up behind Briancon. The road to the col d'Izoard (2360m) had been pisted but the retour d'Est has brought 5 to 15cm of new snow. Not ideal but still.

The first few km of the climb were ok. Pisted at first then 5cm of very light snow which was easy to ski.

but coming out of the trees under the Refuge Napoleon things were deeper, around 10-15cm of snow and hard to skis. I'd wish I'd had touring skis today as the open woods under the col looked ideal for skiing with the fresh snow and good base and indeed there were a lot of ski tourers on the climb.

Finally the col, the other side was supposed to have been pisted that day but again the retour d'Est had brought in fresh snow after the basher had passed and worse than that, it seemed like someone had skied it during the night after the preperation leaving deep tracks under the snow. I skied down towards the Casse desert but it was unskiable due to the hidden tracks. So back up to the col where the sun had given way to cold and wind.

The ski down in powder was fun, the classic rails were useful at times as a guide as 44mm wide, 192cm skis are a bit of a handful in fresh snow.

I took a fork onto a balcony trail, the Pinatelle which follows the contours around into the valley that leads to the Pic de Rochebrune ski touring route.

All in all a bit of a slog which would have been better on ski nordic/touring or even classic skis but when the trails are prepared you can ski from Cervieres over to Arvieux in the Queyras for lunch and then back again. The problem this year is the high cost of diesel and a bit of lack of communication between the valleys means the trail preperation is a bit intermittent. However I saw that on Saturday they'd synch'd up and it was possible to ski from Cervieres right up to the Col de Boussons and down to the Lago Nero in Italy then the Izoard to Arvieux and beyond (the old Haute-Route des Escartons) which is something exceptional.

A snowHead

Nice- lovely part of the world up there

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I was staying in a guest house at St Crepin which is near the entrance of the Queyras. It is a little medieval town perched on a rock outcrop and very pretty with the houses arranged in a circle. There is a bar restaurant and a bakers which didn't seem to be open.

On Thursday (last week) I had planned to ski the Col d'Agnel but due to a continued retour d'Est there was fresh snow and the weather in all the eastern rangers was claggy and grim. A tour of the webcams showed that Serre Chevalier had sunshine so I headed back up the valley. I don't know SC so parked at Monetier but it would have parked sooner at the Salle des Alpes. I figured I'd head up the valley as far as I could go then return. It is reasonably flat but a few roads to cross and a section without snow that meant a short stroll.

After the car park at Monetier you have to ski through the lift area and the crowds of ESF classes but afterwards you soon leave the crowds behind and are into cross country territory

the trails head up the left bank of the valley in the sun so were a bit sticky but then at le Casset do a hook into the valley where the the Agneaux and Davin couloirs are located - things I'd ski toured about 20 years ago. First skied in the mid 60s by locals Andre Giraud and Paul Clément, the Davin was one of the milestones in steep skiing but is considered pretty tame these days. You are now in the woods and the snow is generally cooler and a bit faster plus it is generally descending back to Monet.

At Monetier I saw the black trail continued down further so followed it as far as some tennis courts at the Salle des Alpes before the blue drag back up to the car park. 25km at a reasonable pace as I wanted to leave some energy for the next day.

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Nice pictures of parts we don't usually see! snowHead

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On the way back from Serre Che I made a detour to Vallouise which I haven't visited for 30 years. It hasn't changed much only the trailer park was now snowbound and deserted. It looked like a good setting for a zombie film. There used to be a drag lift too but that has gone, a victim of climate change or something but you can still ski back from Puy St Vincent to Vallouise and the piste looked excellent.

Vallouise didn't mean much of a detour and left me near the B&B. I noticed that you could ski from les Vigneaux from the head of the valley. I only intended to do an hour and in general the runs were very good.

but in the details some runs were very bad

a reminder that locally the snow had only been good due to missing the Christmas downpours not due to huge depths. I did actually ski that going up but on the way down thought better of it and took my skis off for this section.

Vallouise has some cute houses marooned for the winter in the snow. No way to get to them except on snowshoes or skis or snowmobile.

the valley floor is around 1000 meters and you can see the slopes behind are pretty bare

even if it is 1000x times better than chez moi this winter. It is a pretty area and the large, flat alpine valley makes it idea for cross country and other activities.

There was another part of the trail that was blocked by a large boulder that had come off the mountain somewhere - you wouldn't have wanted to be underneath when that came down. I didn't ski much in Vallouise itself, just past the foyer, as picking my way past the obstacles had taken some time and I had a 3pm rendezvous with the B&B owner to sort out her wifi, which wasn't working properly, in return for a free meal. The B&B was very comfortable. I had a family room - 2 adults 2 kids, to myself for 27 euros per night. A young French climbing couple were also staying so a bit of company too.

@davidof, really great write up, enjoyable to read.

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@davidof, further up from Vallouise is Ailefroide and the long drag up to Pré de Madame Carle, which used to nestle just below the two big glaciers up there which like all the others have receeded in the last 50 or so years.

https://www.paysdesecrins.com/decouvrir/incontournables-dans-le-massif-des-ecrins/sites-d-exception/pre-de-madame-carle-ete

The actual valley is one of the busiest camping valleys in France during the Summer!

We cycle it a couple of times a year and it's a deceptively long and tough climb.

Many years ago we climbed up the Dome de Monetier glaciers and snowboarded down the Classic Combe du Riou (center of map) and then all the way back to Aileforide where the road is open.

But what even this map shows is how those glaciers were really low and now you can hardly see them!

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Great report, cheers @davidof,

You know it makes sense.

Last day and Molines / St Veran said they'd pisted the road to the Col d'Agnel on the Italian border. There had been 20cm or so of fresh snow so it would be a bit soft but the day looked to be wall to wall sunshine. The trail is used by dog sledders but they are not supposed to be on the road the day after pisting but there would be Walkers and snowshoers so worth arriving early. I quit my digs and drove through the beautiful Queyras valley up to Molines.

The car park at the trail head was full, but mainly ski tourers who were going to take advantage of the excellent conditions but a couple of cross country skiers were up the road. Someone very heavy footed judging by the large, deep tracks he was leaving.

For the first few km you climb on the left bank on a dedicate cross country trail, this has a nasty, steep zig-zag to wake you up from the get go but then descends into the middle of the valley. In the distance, 9km according to the pisteur, the Colli dell'Agnello. It is really a cyclists col and there are some excellent tours straddling the border. Pain au chocolat for breakfast, pizza for lunch and erm, whatever they eat in the Hautes-Alpes for dinner... Les oreilles d'âne (donkey's ears) maybe?

after this photo you cross over a bridge and onto the real climb. Flattish at first for the first 3.5km from Fontgillard but slowly but surely the screw turns. I was reguarly passing groups of ski tourers who respectful left a wide gap when I approached. Sometimes they would zig-zag up from a hairpin so I would have to keep up the pace to make sure I didn't repass them when the rejoined the road above.

After the flat there is a ramp of over 10% then 3.5km between 7 and 10%. 7% is okay, 10% is hard and now closing in on 2500 meters with less and less oxygen. This time two short hair pins to gain height, 2400m and the refuge d'Agnel was in view, the road was twisting and turning and so was my head in the thin mountain air. Last group of ski tourers before the summit. I was trying to place my skis as high as possible with each step. The lead tourer kept pace with me for a dozen meters then abandonned the effort.

A longer section of over 10% past the refuge. Two cross country skiers hauled past me on the final bends. Two more were further down the slope. I picked up the pace as I saw that after the last hairpin the road flattened out to "just" 7%, a final sprint to the col and I'd made it. I'd actually distanced the two following skiers but it had taken me over 2 hours for the climb, they started 15 minutes after me.

Summit photos. 2750 meters. Then a quick ski down in some very pleasant, soft snow. The major excitement on the descent were groups of walkers blocking the trail and some climbing cross country skiers, one who was looking down and I only got him to leave me the meagrest of gaps when I cried "hop hop hop" to wake him up. The peaks around the col began to be tracked by the ski tourers who'd started early in the day. It was neither that cold nor windy at the col but I was very pleased to have worn thick ski gloves rather than cross country gloves. The climb was 10km, 20km for the round trip although it is possible to join the cross country trails of St Veran but I had to be in Grenoble for the early afternoon.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@davidof, wow, sounds like hard work.

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Mini Road Trip Hautes-Alpes

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