Mont Jolie, France

Looking down the valley from the apartment, or from anywhere in the valley there is a prominent peak that seems to catch the sun. This we found out was called Mont Jolie. Looking for some where else to explore we had begun to look at places outside the Chamonix valley, and Les Contamines looked like a good place to go, just down the valley to Saint Gervais and turn up the valley road. at the end of this is the little resort of Les Contamines.
Dave and I thought this would be a good opportunity to take a little side tour to Mont Jolie.

 We did several runs on the piste to explore the resort and also to wait for the sun to warm up the snow.
The omens were good, because the drag lift at the very northern end of the resort was running.. in all our visits since it has always been closed.

We took this drag up to the ridge line, and dropped down to the next col, where we paused to put on our skins. This gave us a great view up the ridge, and the summit in the distance.

The ridge line was not technically difficult, and there were a number of tracks to help. The ridge was a classic with a number of bumps and troughs.

the Summit...
We had to walk up the final few meters (we carried the skis) but we had our first summit.

Just the other side of the top was the top of a drag lift coming up from the resort of Megeve... there was a lot of boot marks on the top from people who had walked up from this lift.

Back the way we came was more serene.
The descent was back the way we came, and then down the piste. There is a direct route down, but this was not in condition.
A very memorable day.

The others had all gone to Grands Montets for a ski lesson, during which, Chris Skied over his hand and sliced through his glove. A tale tat willbe repeatedfor many years