We had been looking at the other side of the valley from the station where we were yesterday. Here the road would go up to the col d'Izeran when it was open.Today we parked the van at the end of the village and headed straight up the path, cutting off the first hairpin.
We carried the skis as the track was very patchy and followed a number of small zigzags, climbing higher above the village.
Where the road came back to the path we finally had enough snow to put the skis on. We had great views up and down the valley, before we disappeared into the level area of the valley at this point.
Here we followed all the trails as they worked northwards.
At the centre of this valley there was a bridge and a few buildings. At this point we continued to follow the river leaving the road to climb above us.
From the end of the valley we started to climb up to the next col, which was a little steeper, and we were definitely raising a sweat in the full glare of the sun.
The road was coming back above us as we reached the steepest bit. Some kind people had cut the trail for us and made life easier.
We were now on the road, but you could not tell, as it was full of wind blown snow.
We reached a promontory on the edge of this step before the last section to the col. This is where we caught up with the party in front of us.
They had reached a point where they were having difficulty cutting the trail and had resorted to digging out a snow drift. 
A quick time check showed that we would have to turn around soon otherwise we would miss the best of the snow on the way down. So after a bite and a drink we turned back.
The top section down to the flat valley, was fantastic powder, and apart from taking it in a secure aware manner.
We caught the snow just right on this section and it was the correct decision to turn around when we did.
Back at the top of the valley, after poleing over the flat section, we looked down on the village, and up into the mountains beyond... at this point we did not realise that 8 years later we would be back and heading up there.
We took the road down as this was more likely to have continuous snow, than the path we took up, and apart from the last section where we balanced on the side we made the correct choice.