La Cîme du Diable

Flowers, France, Hikes, Landscape, Mountain, Nature, Sunrise, Travel |

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La Cîme du Diable

17 July 2021

So… After some health trouble that cut short our latest hike, my dad is now feeling better. But not up to anything too challenging, he needs something nice and easy. I have in mind the perfect hike. La Cîme du Diable (2685m) starting from the Pointe des 3 Communes (2078m).
A nice walk alongside the crest with views on the valleys on either side. We start early, catching the sun as it rises near the Reodute, old fortification from the late 1800’s. We walk quite a bit before choosing a beautiful spot for breakfast. And then, up we go to the Capelet Supérieur (2598m), the summit just ahead of the Cîme du Diable, which offers a great view on our objective. We make quicly the crest across to the Cîme du Diable to enjoy lunch at the summit, with view on the Gélas, Grand Capelet, Viso, Malédie.

We then head down towards the Pas du Trem (2480m), the more travelled path to do this summit, and from there, along some little lakes to the Pas du Diable (2430m) and the Baisse Cavalière (2104m) where we get back on the path we took to come. By curiosity, while my dad follow the path, a follow the crest, passing by the Cîme de Raus (2160m), heading down a field of flowers to reach the path that we follow all the way back to the Redoute.

After all, not that small a hike. It looks like that, going from 2078m to 2685m, but, the crest is not all straight, and it quickly adds up… 16km and about 1050m up and down. Not to bad!

To see all the pictures, click here.

Animals, Flowers, France, Hikes, Landscape, Mountain, Nature, Travel |

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Cîme de l’Agnelière

7 July 2021

My dad does fill much better, and so we decide on another rather small hike, to keep building back those muscles and endurance. The night before this hike, I was feeling dizzy, walking a bit like a drunkard, almost losing my balance. When I wake up, and meet my dad in the living room before heading off, he asks So, are you ok?” I can only answer, “We’ll see…” (I certainly do not want to cancel this!)

Indeed, I still feel… Not so great. But, the worst is on flat or going down movement. So, as long as we go up, I am fine, and I figure that we will see when it is time to walk down…

Early start, “à la fraiche”, no one around, a hike totally off the beaten tracks. Not a huge summit, more like a “let’s start small, and build up our strength and confidence”, which seems adequate after our last aborted hike. The hike is a beautiful one though, especially at this time of year, with flowers blooming by the thousands. I make a mental note to do it again with D the following year. She will love it!

The view of the Gélas is amazing.

And, well, if you wonder, by the time we start doing some down hill walk, I have no ore signs of any dizziness. Fresh and clean air and exercise made it go away!

To see the pictures, click here.

Butterfly, Flowers, Forest, France, Hikes, Landscape, Mountain, Nature, Travel, Waterfalls |

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Forêt de la Frachas

24 July 2021

Today Detti and I are going from our first walk post Detti wiped out days. She feels ok, so, off we go! And this is a surprisingly long hike, I forgot about the long fire trail that we have to follow first! So it ends up being a nearly 12km walk with about +500m of up hill (probably a bit more).

But, even though by lunch time D is exhausted, food gives her a second wind (and a third, and fourth, and fifth with each snacks later on!) and so, while we do not make it all the way to the plateau, we do make it to an amazing (and amazingly cold) waterfall!

Well done D for this trial of fire! It is a great sign of better times to come!!!

Click here for all the pictures.

Animals, Flowers, Forest, France, Hikes, Landscape, Mountain, Nature, Travel |

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Tête de la Ruine

1 August 2021

A day hike to la Tête de la Ruine. We saw it the previous year from la Cîme Guilié, it’s close neighbour, and I wanted to do it since. Early start at the parking of the Boréon (1690m), we follow “à la fraiche” the main track that goes towards the Refuge du Boréon, which we quit before its final climb in order to take a small valley north-west bound, in direction of the Cîme de Baissette, we also leave that track to go towards the Lacs Bessons (2550m) and have a breaky a bit before reaching them.
Then, it is a fun hike up, passing cliffs on a kind of a maze, up, right, down, left, right, up, up… The last bit is very treacherous and vertical before the summit (2981m). We have lunch there, as the clouds are closing in on us. We arrived a bit late for a clear view of the Gélas, and the French summits. Even the Argentera is only partially visible at times. We will have to come back!

We go back down, alternating our route for better spots, and then going to the Refuge du Boréon, to make it more like a loop than a back and forth. A very demanding hike, very hard on the joints, especially with all those boulders and slippery slopes!

Beautiful non the less.
To do: go up la Tête de la Ruine, then down, but only a tiny bit, aiming for la Cîme Guilié (and a swim in that little beautiful like in the rocks near the summit), then, back down. Or, if we are in for a ride, we could even follow that by la Cîme du Mercantour, with or without a night somewhere.

To see the pictures, click here.

Animals, France, Hikes, Landscape, Mountain, Nature, River, Sunrise, Sunset, Travel |

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Mont Bégo

5, 6 and 7 August 2021

This is it, the weather forecast is rather good for the next 3 days, my dad’s health is back to great, I took a day of leave, so… Off we go!

A little 3 days loop thought by my dad, starting at the Gordolasque parking, going up to the Pas de la Fou to cross over to the valley of the Valmasque, then onto the valley des Merveilles with a side trip up the Mont Bégo before heading back to the car.

Day 1: we leave the parking of the Gordolasque (1690m) around 9am, and it is about time: the parking is near full, it is crazy! We follow the main path to the Lac de la Fous (2200m) passing by the Italian wall (see picture from above). From there we reach the Refuge de Nice (2220m) and veer off the main tracks to go to the Pas de la Fous (2828m). I make a small side trip to the Cime Viglino (2910m) with an impressive view of the east side of the Mont Clapier. We go back down to the Lac Gelé (2610m) where we find a small patch of grass to sleep on. As we enjoy the peace and quiet after our evening meal, we are visited by a curious bouquetin. Sniffing here and there, he comes to about 2m of us. before taking a step back and going back to its dinner.

Day 2: we keep going down all the way to the Lac Vert and the Refuge de la Valmasque (2220m), after a small stop, we back track to follow the edges of the lac Vert, Lac Noir (2280m) and Lac du Basto (2340m) before going up to the Baisse de la Valmasque (2549m) where we will come back for the night. We have our lunch there overlooking the lakes we just walk by. After lunch, leaving our big back packs behind, we do a big side trip to the Mont Bégo (2872m), we see quite a few bouquetins with huge impressive horns. A colony of males it seems. The path is really enjoyable, even if at time a bit challenging with quite exposed bits, going around some cliffs, sometimes bellow, sometimes at the top. Finally, the summit, with a small space to spend the night if required, and an amazing view of the Cîme de la Malédie et Gélas, but also the Grand Capelet. Then, we back track to our sleeping quarters.

Day 3: this this the day where we go back. A long way down, first through the Vallée des Merveilles (2170m) from there we go back up, as the fog comes in, to the Pas de l’Arpette (2511m), by then, we cannot see a thing, so, we head down to find a spot a bit protected from the chilly wind and have lunch, then, we finish our walk to the carpark and head home.

Another beautiful hike, so good to be in nature, and climbing those summits to enjoy the views they offer…

To see the pictures, click here.

Flowers, France, Hikes, Landscape, Mountain, Nature, Travel |

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Lacs de Millefont

14 August 2021

We had the pleasure to catch up with Laura, an old friend of mine I hadn’t seen in years (since I caught up with her in Hong Kong a few years back). She came with her partner, Omar, and their son, Leon, and we spent the night near the car (2030m), sharing a late meal under the milky way before going on a small hike the next day.

Several lakes (Lac Petit 2240m, Lac Long 2350m, Lac Gros 2380m) and the Col du Barn (2452m) as our top point. Great views, not much wild life: a ground hog and a few vultures, sitting on a rock in the far distance… A nice hike for Detti, walking with a bay making our friends a bit slow, it was perfect for D who at first feared she would make everyone slow. Nope. Not once did she have to ask for a rest!

A great catch up, a beautiful day and a nice easy walk.

To see the pictures clic here.

Animals, Butterfly, Flowers, Forest, France, Insect, Landscape, Mountain, Nature, Plants, Travel |

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Granges de la Brasque

15 to 18 August 2021

The weather is good, so Detti and I head off on a short holiday to the Granges de la Brasque, a place full of childhood memories and which became an all time favorite relaxing camping spot for Detti and I. The fact that the best cheese in the world is made there is also a great calling card. Oh. And did I mention that at times wild strawberries, blueberries and raspberries are to be found for those looking for them? And that a mere 40m from the camping site there is a fountain with cold and fresh and oh so pure spring water?

On our second day, Detti and I hiked to the little summit nearby, the Mont Tournairet (2085m), small (per our standard) yet, the view from the top is amazing, and we can clearly see many of the summit that my dad and I have been crossing one after the other this last few years. A nice outing, with some raspberries ready to be picked on the way down. Miam! (side note: there is a little well made cabin just by the summit, would be a beautiful spot to hit for a night in early spring when all is still covered in snow!)

We are joined by my parents for the last 2 days, trip down memory lane, a night by the fire, good food, great company, amazing times and… a few kilos of raspberries!.

For the pictures, click here.

Animals, Flowers, France, Insect, Landscape, Mountain, Nature, Plants, River, Sunrise, Sunset, Travel |

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Le Ténibre

20 to the 22 of August 2021

Having a 3 days window of rather ok, not too cloudy, definitely no rain weather, my dad and I are off to do a little hike that we had on our minds.

Going to the Ténibre (3031m) on a big 3 days loop:

-Day 1: from the parking de Vens (1580m) we take the main path going to the Refuge de Vens (2370m), it is a real pleasure to see that we have a good rhythm, the differnet hikes from the previous weeks paying off and allowing us, even with our big packpack, to maintain +300m per hour. We stop at the refuge for a drink and a blueberry pie and then head off on a less travl track towards the Pas de Vens. We soon reach the first of those less frequented lakes and stop for lunch. The weather alternating between clouds and full sun, I time it well for a swim in this high altitude lake. So nice. We then keep going, up rocks and boulders to yet another lake before reaching the Pas de Vens (2796m). I do an extra little side hike, leaving my big back pack at our night camp, to reach the Cîme Borgonio (2930m) which offers amazing views of the surroundings, and of our tomorrow objective, the Mont Ténibre, shrouded in clouds that evening. I go down a different way to map down what would be our track the next morning, as from bellow it is not very evident. Joining my dad, we wait the day out and are join by a lonely walker who, just like us, had elected to pass the night in an old Italian casemate that offer shelter at the Pass.

-Day 2: I wake as the light start to shift from the pre dawn, the dark hues of the sky slowly filling with lighter shades. I ponder, and then get up, my dad still about asleep, and head again for the Cîme Borgonio (2930m), I reach it just in ti;me to see the sunrise. What a show! After enjoying the changing colors and welcoming the new day, I head back to our camp to join my dad. We pack and start our way to the Brèche Borgonio (2904m), having breakfast on the way, once we reach a spot in the sun. Amazing view on the Viso, before the Nébia hides it away. From the Brèche Borgonio, we head down to the Lacs du Ténibre (2550m), a beautiful spot to spend a night in peace. Then up an amazingly steep slope, and more boulders and rocks to the Ténibre (3031m). Amazing views all around, the Argentera, the Gélas, Cîme du Diable, Grand Capelet, Mounier… They are all visible. Only the Viso is now hidden away. Then, down the next valley to the Lac Chaffour (2650m), where I can resist another swim, we look for a welcoming spot for the night. The edges of the lakes are pretty nice, but a bit humid and a welcoming site for clouds of flying bugs. We look a tiny bit further up and end up spending the night under the stars (and the full moon) on a small grass patch.

-Day 3: from the Lac Chaffour (2650m) we aim for the Pas du Cormorant, we reach a point were both my dad and I feel like we have to stop. Everything around us is falling down. All rocks, from the tiny pebbles to the massive boulders are not anchored down and want to go down. Without helmet, with our big back packs, we feel it is safer to head back down. We have probably reach 2850m at this stage, only a tiny bit short to the pass and then the summit (later on, we would read that it used to be down on eternal snow… None of it remains). After a breakfast on a boulder in the sun, we go down to the Refuge de Rabuons for a snack, before starting the long way back to the car, along the Chemin de l’Energie, with a detour to the Lac du Fer (from 2350m to 2550m and back down to 2350m), as the track was damaged. No swim today, we are short on time, and the weather is turning. Strong wind and many clouds. A total of about 19kms that day, with about 1420m of down…

An amazing hike, I am already looking for the next one!

For the pictures (quite a few) click here.