Crossing the Chartreuse on skis

Here's another idea from Étienne, who's always on the lookout for beautiful sequences or long crossings nearby. We're still in our pre-confinement carefree phase, and we can't imagine that 2 days later we'll be asked to stay at home for 2 months.

The idea came to him a short while ago: there's still snow in the Chartreuse, and perhaps just enough not to have to carry, with very little risk of avalanche. In short, it's the perfect opportunity to cross the Chartreuse from south to north, from the Col de Porte to the Col du Granier.

Leaving Cognin at 5am, I get out of my apartment and take a look at the Granier, which you can see from the street. We should be there in a few hours. The walk is around 45km long and has a total of 3800D+, which is a distance and altitude difference that I haven't done for a long time! Especially as I've got my 'heavy' gear, and I'm carrying everything I need for the few aerial steps we'll come across on the way. A 30m 6mm rope, escaper, pitons, harness and belay device, plus of course crampons and ice axe.

We meet Jérémie at the Col du Granier, where his car will be waiting for us for the return journey. Then off to the Col de Porte where we meet up with Alex, who has come up from Grenoble.

On the menu for the day: Chamechaude, descent via the Brèche Arnaud, long traverse to the Col du Coq, then on to the Pas de l'Oeil and the Dent de Crolles. Then down to the Paradis chimney and on to the Col de Bellefont, the Lances de Malissard for a beautiful descent and then a long flat section to the top of the Cirque de Saint-Même. From here, the summit of Grand Manti, the same route back down and up to the Croix de l'Alpe. Finally, we'll finish at the Granier. As you can see, crossing the Chartreuse on skis is very, very flat. And forest to cross. And watch out for holes! Fortunately, we have our skins waxed, and during these transitions we manage to find the almost optimal route so as not to lose too much altitude and time.

For a full description of the route, I'll leave it to Alex and his account on Skitour.

http://www.skitour.fr/sorties/traversee-de-la-chartreuse,97193.html#sortie

This was really our last ski outing of the year, apart from a quick retraining at the end of May to shorten a ridge approach. It was a sublime moment in the mountains, where we found good weather and good conditions for an elegant itinerary that took us across the entire massif from south to north for the day.

When we stood at the top of Chamechaude in the morning and saw our various stages, we could hardly imagine the day ahead of us. In the evening, what a reward it was to stand at the top of the Granier, looking out over Lac du Bourget, with Mont Blanc in the distance that had accompanied us all day. Down below, somewhere among the buildings and houses, the street from which I had observed the mountain we were now standing on in the morning.

It was the kind of sporting and natural experience that the mountains have to offer. Thank you for a great day!