Because we have concentrated on skiing this winter — we started the season early and have went skiing at least once a week, since the conditions have been quite good — we have not done any hiking. One third of the country having  started their winter vacation this week we knew that ski resorts will be over-crowded — they have been very crowded even on regular weekends — so we chose to go hiking on this sunny Sunday. As our destination we chose La Pierre percée (a rock with a whole), a natural arch near the village of Pierre-Châtel in our department, which is one of the Seven Wonders of Dauphiné. For the sunny and warm Sunday like this, it was a perfect destination — it was even a bit too warm, since we started from Grenoble at 9am. when it was -1C, and finished our hike in the afternoon at +17C!

It was an easy hike with ascent (and descent) of 304 meters from the church of Saint Pierre at Pierre-Châtel, mostly in snow but also on some muddy trails. We were happy we took our hiking poles since there were some icy sections.