For our second week of Winter vacation we returned to Grenoble. The snow situation was no better around the town, but there was a strange meteorological phenomenon going on, known as inversion: the temperature increased with altitude causing the low-hanging clouds to block pollution close to the ground. For the […]
Tomi’s been in cold and humid Finland for this past week, while Tei has enjoyed quite aestival weather in Grenoble. Althought the mornings have been cool, the daytime temperatures have climbed to mid-twenties. On Saturday morning it was time to climb Mont Rachais (1050m). Leaving at 9am. it was only […]
This extended weekend we did three more or less intensive practise runs and hikes to prepare ourselves and test the equipment for this coming Friday’s Ut4M (Ultra Tour des 4 Massifs) race — we will not do the whole 160 on the four mountain ranges (Vercors, Oisans, Belledonne, Chartreuse), but […]
Saint-Hilaire-de-Touvet to Cascades des Dioux We had a friend visiting us from the US this weekend, and we entertained him with some easy hikes. First we took the funicular up to Saint-Hilaire-de Touvet on the Chartreuse range. It is claimed to be the steepest funicular in the Alps with the […]
Today we spent a few hours watching future martinfourcades and mariedorinhaberts in the making in regional biathlon championships at Col de Porte biathlon stadium. There were four race categories: U12 and U14, both with mixed relay of 3 biathletes, and U10 and U16, with single mixed relay with one shooting. […]
When we left Grenoble at 8am. (on Wed Nov. 11) the town was completely covered in thick clouds. When we reached Sappey-en-Chartreuse at about 1000 meters we started to see the surrounding peaks, and then the clouds were behind and below us and we enjoyed sun shine for the rest […]
Unlike in the last weekend’s hike, when we saw just two people and no animals (at least mammals), this Sunday (November 08) we saw heards of people and animals. The climb to the top of la Grande Sure (1920m) was pretty populated. We took a longer detour back to the […]
This weekend there was an ultra trail running race in Grenoble (Ut4M = Ultra Tour des 4 Massifs). It crossed four mountain ranges around the town: Vercors, Oisans, Belledonne, and Chartreuse. Runners from over 20 nationalities took part. There were several race categories with different distances and different positive vertical […]
Next Saturday’s ultra trail race Ut4M will take us to Chamechaude (not quite to the top but pretty high anyway), which at height of 2082m is the highest peak in the Chartreuse range. Today, we made a short practice hike all the way to the top. Because of the rain, […]