Week one of gratuitous vacation: Belledonne!

I complain a lot about French bureaucracy.  I hate submitting papers in triplicate. I hate trying to anticipate which documents, that are not on the official list of documents, I might get asked for at the Prefecture.  And I hate getting sent back and forth and back and forth between different offices in different buildings on different sides of the city.

However, I do not hate French vacations.  Despite my constant struggles with administration and the current possibility that I may not get paid for 40 hours of work I did last year because someone checked the wrong box on my forms back in 2012, I feel that I should not complain (at least not more than I have already).  I should not complain (too much) because just as I managed to surface from underneath an enormous pile of papers to make and grades to enter, I started a two-week school vacation.  It feels a bit gratuitous since we've only been back at school for 4 weeks,  but since France splits itself into 3 zones for vacations, it was our turn to go first, and voilà: vacances! 

Luckily for me, beginning the week without concrete plans has not gotten in the way of my ability to 'profit'  and to renew my affection for one of Grenoble's closest mountain ranges: Belledonne.  I would be lying if I suggested that we had not already 'discovered' skiing in Belledonne.  While he studied abroad back in 2009, Brad brought Thad and me on a multi-day trip up some of the most prominent peaks seen from the city.  We profited again with Sam over Christmas in 2010; with Carrie, Thad, and Brian in 2011; with Sambo and Jesse in 2013 and on and off in between.  However, given our relative obsession with the Ecrins, occasional but fantastic powder in Chartreuse, and  Brad's broken ankle last year, Belledonne had fallen a little by the wayside.

Over the last week, I have been reminded of some of what Belledonne has to offer, exploring new areas, new summits and new views.  Below, there is a smattering of photographs from the week's adventures--ones in which I fell back in love with the massif's steep valleys, endless views, and low parking lots and high summits.

1) Weekend exploring the eastern side of Belledonne from the Basse-Maurienne:
Day one: Col de la Colombière and Col du Merlet with Brad, Thibaut and Christophe

Christophe tops out on the col

François, have I earned French Nationality yet??

Day two: (Almost) Col du Tepey and other minigolf around the valley with Brad and Thibaut

Heroics on the skin track, take one

Heroics on the skin track, take two

Brad enjoys turns earned

A not so heroic moment:
consequences of a white out and flat light

2) "Sick Day": Enjoying a beautiful sunny day while throwing down tons of vertical (6,900 ft) and admiring Mont Blanc, la Grande Casse, la Meije and much more.
Rocher Blanc (2928m) and Col de la Combe Madame with Brad

Plagued by illness, Brad cannot work today

Can't resist a second lap 

3) Girls day out: My first outing "entre filles" while Brad slaved away at the lab.
 Cime de la Jasse (2478m) with Lydia

Lydia shreds the small pocket of still good snow

Happy ladies

A little ski touring for a change

Hill and I were lucky to be invited to our friend Olivier's family house in Briançon last weekend for a couple days of schussing and merriment. The two main things going for us were great people and good weather; less on our side were the lack of snow (this was before the week+ of dumping happened) and instability due to high winds and squirrelly thin snow pack temperature gradients. Also for me it was the first real test of my ankle in ski boots post pin removal.

Strategically speaking I'd say we did a nice job, fully capitalizing on points one and two with fondue and wine, and some quality time hanging out by the fire as well as on the skin track. We also managed to keep dancing with the dragon to a minimum, given that we stuck to slopes well under 30° (there were actually a number of accidents that weekend, so I definitely don't regret taking it easy). And finally, it turns out that doing the backseat noodle through 20° powder is pretty low stress on the old ankle. Mostly I was just psyched to be back out there with Hill and friends with skis on my feet, shuffling around in some spectacular terrain...

Skinning out of the Névache valley, with the Cerces range as backdrop.

Sometimes 15° is all you need.

Traversing slopes below the Grand Arias (2869m). Psyched to come back for the upper couloir in more stable conditions... note the work of the evil W on the textured snow surface. 

Getting blasted at the col.

Enjoying some low angle bangle jangle through the larch trees.

Day 2 with Thibaut and Matthias, skinning up into a cirque to the southeast of Briançon near the Grand Peygu.