Bushwalk Australia

Snowshoeing is something I had never done before. The appeal is huge though : in winter, the Alps are covered in snow, about 1 m of snow from 1200 m elevation usually. This makes for striking mountains, and the boring green or grey hills you see in summer are suddenly not so boring anymore. Which is a good thing, as you certainly can't climb as high as in summer, the avalanche risk being too great. Avalanche bulletin will dictate the life of a snowshoe enthusiast. Dozens of skiers, snowshoers or snowboarders died this year in the French Alps, mostly off-track in 3 to 5 avalanche risk (on a 5 mark scale). The problem is most of the slopes in most of winter are rated 3 : people then get frustrated and assume that 3 is fine, while it's mostly a gamble. I only went when the risk was 2 or less, which meant only 2 hikes this winter.

The first one was in Vercors, south-east of Grenoble. Vercors only tops at around 2200 m, and yet it's one of my favorite places in the Alps, an opinion shared by many locals. Yes it lacks glaciers and huge peaks, but it also lacks big ugly ski resorts, it's accessible but still wild, the villages are full of charm and history, and the plateau feels liberating. The walk I did was up a rounded mountain called Charande, 1709 m. Driving to the start of the walk, on January 1st with fresh snow on the way to the village, no snow tires and no chains, was a bit tricky already. For the whole walk I used ViewRanger fitted with IGN maps. Very handy as getting oriented in snow can be difficult, with foot prints everywhere leading to God knows where. I was lucky, it was cold (-4°) so the snow was hard, and in the end, I never even put on my snowshoes, boots were enough. It was only 500 m elevation gain, but it's much harder in snow than on firm ground. Luckily, the frosted pine trees and plants were magnificent in the morning light. Slowly the views opened, towards Belledonne and Grenoble on the left, and the rest of Vercors on the right. I wasn't surprised at all to see some blokes having a new year lunch at the top (with wine, yes).

The second walk was done 10 days ago. March means quite a bit of snow, but the early spring we have this year means less snow at low elevations. It also means very soft snow, and with 950 m elevation gain, the ascent up Mont de la Guerre (2293 m), just North of Vanoise, was simply the hardest physical ordeal I've ever undertaken. A brutal and slow progress up steep slopes : 8 hrs to walk 10 kms. And for the first time I've tried my snowshoes, it wasn't ideal. First, those things weigh 1.5 kg each. 2nd, they're good if you face the slope, not good if you try to imitate skiers climbing up a hill in zig-zags. There's 0 flex in them, which is why I've already got my eyes on the new TSL Symbioz which are entirely flexible. The first 500 m of climbing were in forested slopes. Not a soul in sight, it's the end of the snow season, and I'm not in a particularly well known snowshoe hike. Nevertheless, the views towards Vanoise started to unveil, and although they were utterly magnificent they didn't manage to make me forget how much I was suffering. Skipping breakfast was utterly stupid on my part, but that wasn't the worst decision I had made that day. The worst one was to follow blindly the book I took the itinerary from, climbing from the Southern side of the summit, exposed to the sun, and with unbelievably deep and soft snow. It took me ages to climb those final 200 m to the summit, while some skiers climbed the North face easily. I almost passed out from that, but I made it, refused to go back. The main issue though was that it's a ski area above the forest, with plowed tracks and still plenty of *&%$#! skiers. So even though the views are wild, where you are isn't. Not the best choice of itinerary I've made, but at least I've learnt plenty : start as early as you can, never climb the South face on a spring sunny day, check if there's the possibility of encountering skiers and NEVER skip breakfast again.

Thanks Hallu!

Cool photos! It's great to get out in winter.

You could try skis instead of slowshoes, faster on the up and funner on the down

There's plenty of ski touring to be had in Grenoble!

I know but I like to take my time, and skis are a lot more expensive. Plus I had so many friends who got injured on skis (the most recent event was one who had his Achiles tendon ruptured, then it ruptured twice in the subsequent operations, he still can't walk) that I'm happy staying on my snowshoes.