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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3072 |
20th March 2016 Hiking - Walking: Lac des Plagnes Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny Max Speed: Distance Covered: Sunday 20th March – snow shoe ***** Lac des Plagnes then travel – sunny What a nice spot the Foyer Nordique car park at Chapelle D’Abondance is to spend the night. Nice quiet night, lovely views across the cross country pistes and mountains, then watching young couples taking their kids out on sledges, some even towing them as they ski! As it is rest weekend we had a lay in, read our books and had a leisurely breakfast before heading off in search of our next adventure. We were heading for the Lac des Plagnes - a little cross country ski place up above Abondance, just down the road. On reaching Abondance the road was shut because of a Sunday market so we stopped and had a wander in the pretty little town by the river, we even sampled some cheese, found a Tabac that sold stamps and managed to buy a crispy baguette before heading up the steep and windy road to the Lac. It was a beautiful spot with a frozen lac surrounded by snowy mountain and a car park full of people out walking, snow shoeing and ski touring! We found a parking space and quickly packed a picnic and got the snow shoes out of the top box. We checked the map on the notice board as there are several routes including a circular walk visiting several refuges taking 4hrs 20 mins - that was too ambitious for our tired legs so we choose an hour walk to the Refuge Tinderets of only an hour – perfect for a Sunday hike and we started out at 12.30. The hike started off on a wide path up high above the lac and climbing even higher, we soon put our snow shoes on, I only had a thin roll neck and my salopettes and was a bit on the warm side. It was the perfect day for a walk with wispy clouds floating in a perfect blue sky and the first part of the journey was a bit hectic with several ski tourers flying down and a large group of youngsters coming down carrying bags of empty beer bottles after probably spending the night in a mountain refuge! As we got higher the wide path became the usual narrow snow shoe path as we entered a large bowl with a river meandering down the middle and loads of ski track made by the ski tourers after having walked high up into the mountains! The path now was rising sharply and was slow going but well worth it as the views all around were stunning, we even saw a small avalanche on the unstable sunny side of the mountain, it made a frightening rumble and we were glad it was not near us! We passed a young family with their kids in a backpack and on a sledge, also a group of adults having great fun coming down the tracks on little bum sledges:) Snow always seems to guarantee people a laug:)! We made it to the fantastically positioned Refuge Tinerets in just over an hour to be greeted by a group of kids just starting to bum sledge down and another family of four enjoying their lunch on a table by the Refuge. We found another picnic table half buried in snow and ate our delicious cheese and ham roll. I took some nice pics and then checked out the inside of the Refuge which was amazing!!! So well looked after for somewhere so remote. There were candles, games, books, magazines, losg for the fire, shoes to wear indoors and blankets for the beds. All this could be yours for 11 Euros a night – we’re not sure how you paid, perhaps you had to book in advance??? Feeling suitably refreshed we started down and soon tired of the path, heading off piste down the steepest slope in a foot of snow! I did fall and bend one of my walking sticks but luckily they were under a tenner from Aldi:) After making loads of fresh track we found a sign to the left taking you down to the lac. An English couple warned us that it was not suitable for snow shoes because of the tree roots and rocks but we love a challenge so went for it! The path had in fact been well used by snow shoers and it was great fun winding steeply down the side of a waterfall to the lac! We then walked to where the waterfall entered the frozen lac to find two ducks in the only section of the lac that wasn’t ice! It was a bit up and down back to the car park but we soon made it back to the van for a refreshing cuppa with bread and jam before setting off to our next destination, the little ski resort of Praz de Lys just past Les Gets. On reaching Abondance we even managed to find a post box for our cards and a wooden manger with running mountain water to top up our water supply. We soon covered the 30 miles to Praz, parked up in the car park by one of the top lifts we used last year and had tartaflette for tea – fingers crossed for another sunny day tomorrow so we can get out skiing again as we are running out of days:( Photo Gallery here |
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