After the first week of the heat wave we escaped the town for the weekend to the nearest ski resort on Belledonne range, Chamrousse at 1750 meters above the sea level. The difference in temperatures, especially at night, was significant. Even if daytime temperatures climbed quite high (up to +30C), after the sunset the air cooled down quickly to +10 – 15C.
Sunset on Friday night, viewed from our room at Le Bérangère. Grenoble is down there in the valley.

On our first day we hiked up to Lac Achard (alt. 1917m). On our way we met a lot of people, mostly teenagers and young adults, who had been camping by the lake for the night. When we reached there, the lake was still very crowded. From the lake we climbed over le Cold d’Infernet (2000m), and then hiked to Lacs Robert, three small lakes at altitude of 1998 meters. The trail back from the lakes was quite rocky, we climbed over boulders for a few kilometers.

We even saw some snow on today’s hike. The ski lift was also operating taking people up to Croix de Chamrousse, a summit of 2253 meters. We had dinner at Le Chamroussien, a restaurant run by a couple. Apparently they were without their regular help, since they were crazy busy — the lady cooking and the gentleman serving, both running up and down the narrow circular stairway down to the basement storage several times in a few minutes.

On our second day, after checking-out we drove to Lac de Poursollet (1649m), and climbed from there to Le plateau du Taillefer and le lac Fourchu at the altitude of about 2100 meters.

Le Taillefer (2857m).