Pralognan-la-Vanoise

Monsieur Jean Max invited us to randonnée Col de la Vanoise with four of his friends today and take lunch in a refuge at the pass, located at 2,517 meters altitude. 4 of us skinned up on skis, and the other two were on snowshoes. We bought 11 euro lift passes (good for two chairlift rides) and took the lift as high as 2,000 meters, and skinned from there. There seemed to be a pretty thick layer of clouds from when we left Moûtiers all the way up to the refuge. Max assured everyone the whole time that the sun always shines in the Tarantaise Valley, though his friends from Annecy had their doubts. Low and behold, as we sat in the refuge drinking kirs with our "omelettes montagnardes," the sun broke through the clouds to reveal the glaciers completely surrounding us. Of course, it's still winter and white is white (they would be stunning in the summertime--Max says you can hear the ice crackling when it's very warm out), but they were impressive nonetheless. The descent was gorgeous and we had soft, spring snow the whole way down. We dropped back onto the ski trail where the chairlift dropped us off in the morning. This is the view from the trail looking down the valley. You can see glaciers a bit through the clouds, and when the clouds are gone you see down the valley a round, domed peak called le Petit Mont Blanc, supposedly a very nice hike that maybe we'll do this spring.