So, I'm back in English. Given Garmin connect website tries to curb my creativity with a text size limit, I'll write about my hikes here :-)
So the last one in date was yesterday to Dent de Crolles.
This hike was intended as the first training with the new Black Diamond poles I just got from Vieux Campeur for the TDS. After spending the night before trying to organise how to get to Saint-Pancrasse (and failing because there are precisely road works in the tunnel there so no bus stops there during summer...), I took the same bus as last time (line 6020 from Hotel de Ville) to St-Ismier Memorial (alt 317m). There starts immediately the long way up in the "Rivière des Graviers" ;-), a long boring gravel track to the Manival Hut (4.2 km, alt 870m).
There I take the poles out for the most enjoyable part of the way, the "chemin Ketanou", named after I climbed it listening to "La fiancée de l'eau", and this song just happens to play again, by chance :-) So this track is of perfect grade, shock-absorbing compact dirt, a bit narrow at times, and in the shade of the forest which is pleasant under this heat. It goes straight (well, not so straight precisely ^^) up to Col de Baure (alt 1200m, so 2.5km, 330m+) and the sign announces a time of 1h25. Actually took 30mn instead B-)
From Col de Baure it's a steeeeeeep uphill for 1 km, up to a crossing with a large sandy track going downhill for another km. This time I knew I was going the right way, even if it was downhill, so I could just enjoy the downhill to Col du Coq, its parking, and the first humans of the day. From there a short hilly muddy rooty rocky slippery narrow technical trail leads in 1km and 10mn to The Fountain, under Col des Ayes, where I drink before heading to the col (reached in 2h10) and immediately starting straight up the Dent de Crolles amongst now numerous other hikers.
Still going fast pushing on the poles (the arms are hurting more than the legs ^^), I pass all the other hikers, just walking but faster. Chose to go through Trou du Glaz again, longer way but way more fun too. No traffic jams today in the cabled section, where I put the poles away for the day. Rocks are all slippery from too many hands grabbing them to climb up, so cables are sometimes welcome. At the top of the climb comes the GR9 track again (Tour de Chartreuse), and then the sign where the summit track splits from the GR: summit 40 mn, 1.1 km. I'm up to 2h46 of climbing, wondering if I can manage a sub-3h summit, but probably not. First priority is to not lose the track as I did last time, so I'm a bit more careful and it's actually quite easy to follow with yellow marking and biiiig cairns, dunno how I lost it last time... Finally the summit cross emerges behind one last bump, and I decide to try for a 3h07 at the top. Push harder, pass a few more people, then a trail runner (walking too ^^) takes a shortcut and passes me just before the summit. A few meters running but it's too steep... Finally 3h10 at the cross. Not too bad B-)
At the top, lots of people are watching... the clouds! and having a picnic. We are in a sea of clouds, right in the middle of it, clouds so close they seem tangible. Flowing fast above our heads, swirling around us, and sometimes suddenly opening up to unveil Belledonne in the South. No chance to see Mont Blanc today though. Only Chartreuse is more visible, with the Grand Som and even a paraglider above it, while Saint-Eynard is so close but completely masked.
Not even really hungry, despite having eaten nothing on the way up, since it's barely noon. Mostly thirsty though, and cold in the wind, happy to put on the windstopper jacket. A first sandwich and go for a nap, and some writing, some photos, watching the hikers. Another trail runner arrived at the top with his typical buff, raidlight backpack and tights ^^ I guess lots of people are now training even harder for UTMB...? At least several hikers over the past few days have been asking if I was training for it. Finally I took almost an hour at the top eating, writing, sleeping and enjoying the view, before getting too cold and deciding to run down to the Col des Ayes to sleep in the sun there.
Walked, jogged and ran down (in 19mn) by the Pas de l'Oeille path, steep, rocky and slippery, gravels rolling under your feet, not always possible to run except for the very end of it. Reached the Col des Ayes in the middle of... sheeps, lots of them. Went straight down to the fountain to top up my water bladder, nearly empty already (what would it be if it was really hot...?) and drink, then back up to the Col to sleep on a big rock I had spotted, all alone in the grass. Another nap, the end of my picnic, and some more writing until I decided it was late enough to head down to my bus in Bois Français (a leisure base with 4 lakes that I wanted to visit while it's open, after having run there in April, when it was desert).
So jogged down in the middle of all the sheeps trying not to scare them too much, and also trying to wake up quietly, when I got passed by a female trail runner! :-) . Quickly reached this muddy track with big puddles sinking into the forest and leading back to Col du Coq. There I have to go back up this downhill section without the poles that are away in my bag, and at the crossing it's now all downhill to the finish. Started down the steeep track to Col du Baure, and quickly lost the track without even realising, just thinking it was even steeper and narrower than what I could recall, but I wasn't sure until I hit back the real track... suddenly out on a crest with views on the Dent de Crolles on the other side of the col. Carefully went down this steep part to the next sign, still twisted my left ankle twice in a row again.
Col de Baure, alt 1200m. Here comes my favourite section, running down to Baraque du Manival on this perfect downhill section, aerial above the ravine, where you'd better not miss the turn when it suddenly gets round a scree diving into the ravine. And you'd better read the trail a fair way ahead to avoid suddenly rolling an ankle on a moving rock or tripping on a root springing out of the ground. Even saw a few hikers going up! Super enjoyable though, with nice music (No Limits, followed by Wanna be free) to push. 18 mn down though (timed afterwards from the photos time tags). At the hut, long break in the shade, sitting on the picnic table by the hut, singing, playing on my phone, stretching my legs.
Then begins the hard way down the "gravel river", long track under scorching sun, now really hot. I had some fun going fast, when I suddenly felt sick, had to stop and eat something quickly before finishing the descent. I was finally back in Saint-Ismier in 5h, only to realise that Bois Français was still 5km away... :-) So headed there, navigating with my phone, reached the lakes and got lost going around them and multiple fences (I hate fences everyday a bit more), trying the find the bus stop. At least I found blackberries on the way ^^, could take nice pictures of mountains reflecting in the water, but didn't have time for my plan to recover by the water while waiting for the bus. Instead of that I missed the 4:50 bus by quite a while, and finally found the stop only 15 mn before the 6pm bus. Phew... So was quite happy to just sit down at the stop and wait for the bus, wasn't it for the bored cyclist who started telling me all about his life.
Nice day anyway. Now watching Dent De Crolles, wondering when is my next trip there. I should be tapering, I was told... :-)
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