Another clear day, and the fatigue had settled in around the apartment, so it
was just Steph and I that went out... There were several ideas .. the col
du Pre, Grand Mont (using the trace bleu ticket), or Plan Villard - a route we
had done with Chris, M-J and full band several years ago. The roads were still
covered in snow and I was not sure how far up the road to the col du Pre we
could get, therefore we could have a parking problem. The wind was still
rattling around the tops and as such Grand Mont was questionable (also the
avalanche risk was still questionable over 2000m) so Plan Villard it would be
(with a change to the original route). The idea was to go to Areches, park
in the lift car park, and then walk back through the lower town and out on the
back road to Beaufort towards Les Carroz. We needed to find a way up the fields
above the village - there were loads of tracks so it must be there, climb up to
the farm house above Plan Villard, then see how we felt before descending down
to Le Planay and back via the connecting piste. We had originally climbed up the
meadows above Le Planay to the Plan Villard and this would be exploring an
alternative way.
We parked the van on the edge of the car park with the rear end facing where the
sun would appear in an attempt to unfreeze the back door during the day, and set
off carrying the skis past the chair lift and up the road to Les Carroz dessous.
We passed a number of holiday centres and then arrived at a place beside the
road that was an obvious place to park for those going up the way we wanted to
go. Beside this was a very well used skinning rack heading up the meadows
above.
We followed this track as it climbed relatively steeply past a building and
across the meadows towards a wooded area and the sun.
Once in the sun we went from cold to overheating very quickly and we needed to
shed a few layers
I was pleased to find that the cold nights had kept the powder fluffy and there
was a promise of good snow on the descent as long as we did not leave it
too long (noon would be a good time to set for a limit).
As we met the edge of the trees it became clear that we would follow a track
into them.
This undulated through the trees climbing up to an isolated chalet.
Climbing past the chalet, and its associated meadow before going back into the
woods.
The tracks in t he woods deviated away from the summer track, although I did not
know where that was as we continued following the skinning track as laid out for
us.
The track led into a more sparsely wooded area, climbing through the clearer
patches.
This in turn led up through rolling meadows to Plan Villard - the hut roof
showing on the skyline..
We paused beside the huts there and since we were going so well and it was only
11am we chose to go and have a look at the other side of the woods above,
especially as there was a ready made direction indicator with the well used
skinning path.
The path zigzagged through the slope above the huts then crossed a track and
disappeared into the woods on a diagonal climbing traverse.
We followed this through the trees climbing in almost a straight line until it
emerged into the open slopes above.
The slopes were covered in ski tracks (but there was still plenty of room left
for more!) and we continued through some sparsely wooded area climbing towards
the skyline and a ridge we could see.
A short discussion and we decided that if we could make the ridge before 12 then
we would turn there.
However the bright light had foreshortened the distance and it only took 15 mins
to get up to the ridge. The ridge proved to be a false summit with more behind,
however aware of the other day I chose to turn here above the open slopes.
Looking across to a chalet that would make a suitable target for the future
Looking over towards Mont Blanc
We stopped to have a bite and to remove the skins on the front edge of the
ridge. We were passed by a number of people coming up behind - one was using a
stick as a pole (despite having two spares in his backpack!)
On another day we maybe could have made a hut higher on the ridge or even the
noticeable summit on the skyline, however with all the powder to enjoy we needed
to keep a modicum of energy left to enjoy it.
The upper slopes were all they promised to be with excellent powder (well over a
metre deep) and our skis were always knee deep!. We even had some fun slaloming
around the sparse trees and bushes.
Back at the trees all the various lines came together following the same track -
end of the powder for a moment.
We joined the train track down, narrowly avoiding the various parties still
coming up, however sideslip was more effective than trying to put in turns.
The
final slope above the huts of Plan Villard was extremely cut up by the
funnelling of tracks to the obvious point on the top of the slope back to Le
Planay.
We paused here looking at the view across to the ski areas and Grand Mont with
the wind blowing spindrift off the summit ridge, and also took the opportunity
to have a second lunch stop.
Down the meadow slopes and back to Le Planay. Here everything was very cut up
and even some crusty parts where it had been affected by the sun. These could be
avoided by seeking the clearer lines.
We crossed the road at Les Granges, using a narrow strip of snow that had been
helpfully dropped over the tarmac and continued down to la Dray.
Where we had a (correct) guess on how to drop down to the connection link piste
between Le Planay and Areches without having to walk around Le Planay to get to
the proper start point.
The piste took us back down the valley and into the
car park at Areches, in a very gentle way, only when it was in shadow did it get
cold - the only cold part of the day after we started climbing.
Back at the van we even managed to get the rear door of the van open after
3 days of it being iced shut!
As we left Areches I paused to look across the valley and take a picture(s) of this excellent route.
That was the last hurrah for this trip
and tomorrow we begin the long journey back home.
