Termignon ski area tour, France

One of the routes that I had looked at a few years ago was the Col de Sollieres from the Termignon lifts ... A good target for today was to head over and see how far over we could get ..  there was an intermediate ridge which would provide a useful opportunity to test a combined tour and wild skiing while not being too far from the safety of the pisted area. In addition I hoped that the sun would be out on the upper plateau.
We were back in the van again and down the valley past Val Cenis to Termignon .. here we got ready and headed off to the lifts ... and a big shock ...  we had to pay the full ski area charge even if we were just using the smaller Termignon area.

We took the two chairs up to the "remembered" rotating restaurant ... the ride had all been in the shade, with the sun enticingly just over the horizon.   There was only one of the drag lifts working - the right hand one. As this headed up to the plateau the wind came across strongly.
At the top we went down the far right piste (bypassing the new ski cross track).
In the distance we could see the ridge hiding the col and the track also past the common drop off point to this well trodden route.
Everyone being cold and the expensive lift pass, we kept going (including the previously terrifying red descent to the restaurant) .. then back up on the drag lift.
There was some interesting patterns made by the spin drift on the ridges ahead .. the prognosis was that we would be in for a blow.

Knowing where we were aiming for made the drop off fairly simple. and after dipping under the rope we followed some prior tracks cross the slope and into the first gully.
This provided a nice sun trap and pout of the wind, where we could transition the skins onto the skis.

From here it was up and continuing the traverse to the nearer ridge, behind we could begin to see the col and the many paths leading there. However it was also becoming clear we would need to look for a closer objective and the nearer ridge had a convenient spot point on it.

The wind was blowing in gusts but not yet fierce, and there was a lot of evidence that others had similar objectives in mind, proving we were not the odd ones out.
As we got closer to the end of the ridge the path diverged into two routes ..  One going where we were heading and the other to the col.
On the top of the ridge line the path turned across the slope and upwards gaining height. but also stronger and more prolonged gusts of wind

By now the wind was blowing hard, and some of the tacks were directly into it..  at the same time the surface of the snow was crusting up and beginning to from sastrugi.
the last section up to the knoll was fierce, and the decision to turn around was very quickly made.

the col and where we could have gone if we were earlier and there was less wind!

The ski down was a little awkward with the packed snow surface and a few powder traps, but sufficiently steep to aim turns.

Once down off the edge of the ridge the wind died down more and the surface was less crusty giving some good conditions, before the final traverses on the plateau heading back to the gully we had transitioned on the way out.

A welcome stop for lunch in the gully ..  out of the wind (which was by now very reduced from the intensity on the ridge).

then the flat traverse back to the piste and a climb up where they had built up the edges to prevent the wind blowing the snow away.

back to the central meeting point of pistes taking a few off-piste options, where the new ski cross run would allow - this had cut across a lot of the obvious routes we used to use in the previous visits. .. the red run down looking very "normal" now, and still in the shade...

Making full use of our lift passes we "forced" ourselves to do another turn around the drag lift ...  this time dropping down the left hand side - being a little more open without the ski cross run.

Then the long (and very cold in places) drop to the bottom of the chair lifts. Finally escape across the meadows to the car park and the van before the sun dipped behind the peaks.

Back at the village we luckily found a relatively clear parking space ..  but it did need a rev to get up the bank created by the plough.