Living in this valley, where daytime temperatures have been ranging from -2C to +17C in January, it has been a bit hard to imagine that there is a full winter going on just few kilometers out of town and at few hundred meters higher altitude. That’s why we were not quite well prepared for our hike today.

We knew there is some snow, and it may be colder, but more or less we headed out with a late Fall hike in mind with fleeces and windshells — like we did about a month ago. We had our hats and gloves too. Still, when we got out of the shuttle bus in St. Nizier du Moucherotte the icy, breezy, and very shiny winter weather took us with surprise.

We had planned to descend from St. Nizier (1091m) to Engins (857m) and then climb up to Plateau de Sornin (1600m) and Dent du Loup (1425m). At some point the trail was blocked by snow, and we could not figure where the trail goes, or where the edge of the cliff is, so we turned back, and took some safer paths in the woods.

Even if ill-prepared for the wintry day, we found the snowy forest the most tranquil place to be. There may have been a distant dog (kilometers away) barking but other than that, nothing.