The start was just below the Briancon side of the col de Lautaret, and up beyond the col de Galibier.
We left the car in the obvious lay-by just past the avalanche tunnel, and set off up towards the Galibier pass, following the high tension power lines.
After the initial slopes, we curved around to the left and followed the line of a stream bed, through a boulder field, and up to the shoulder (left of the ridge). this is the point where the road comes back from its big loop.
From the col we could see the peak in the distance, although we could not say if it was not the closer one from here. However, where at thee start there was not many tracks - as they were spread out over the slope, these had now all coalesced into one track.
Following the trail would lead to the peak. This was like a green light to Derek and he was off into the distance, at a pace everyone else, but especially me, could not keep up.
As we approached the false summit on the ridge, our whole party was strung out around the bowl, Derek oblivious to everyone else. Chris and Bryon waited for me.
Whilst Derek surged onwards on his own we had a quick bite and some liquid to prepare for the steep final hurdle.Strange though it was Derek struggled up the slope ... the flatter section was just to his liking, but once it got steep, he was struggling with his technique, and lack of practice. We almost caught up to him as he reached the top.
The summit was a round bump with enough room for all of us to stand without banging into each other, and after enjoying the view, we removed our skins, in readiness for the descent.
The descent was a reverse of the stretched out ascent .. I had little difficulty with the gentle powder on the steep section, but at the back Derek was really struggling. However unlike the ascent we stopped frequently to regroup and stay within shouting distance.
The long traverse was a very simple Schuss, and then we dropped down to the road at the point we met it on the way up. The snow was getting quite soft by now in the intense sun, and we chose to follow the road around the long zigzag. This was an easier ski, but the gradient was too shallow to actually ski without the occasional section of polling to maintain momentum.The last section we cut the corner and dropped over the avalanche tunnel, and back to the car.
An excellent route that Bryon and I would repeat in later years. However I did have a not so quiet word with Derek about what it means to be part of a team. We would re-visit this again several times again on the trip, although the slopes were wide enough that we did not have to remind him to turn, on this day.