In July 2024, we did a short hike in the French Alps, the Vanoise National Park, in a diverse company that included my children, and also a group of my friends.
Our original plan of starting at Refuge de l'Orgère, crossing Col de Chavière and continuing to Refuge de Péclet-Polset, had to be adapted as our flight from Frankfurt to Lyon got cancelled, and the replacement flight was from Munich on the next morning.
We spent the afternoon going by train from Frankfurt to Munich, took the flight the next morning and then J. had booked a rental car with which we went to the little hamlet of Les Prioux, near Pralognan-la-Vanoise, and started for Refuge de Péclet-Polset from the other, Northern side around mid-day.
That was a shorter and easier hike up than the one originally planned, from Refuge de l'Orgère to Refuge de Péclet-Polset crossing the - still snowy - Col de Chavière.
We took a short evening walk to the beautiful Lac Blanc as the nearby peaks basked in the last rays of the evening sun.
Our car was now parked in Les Prioux, not reachable by public transport from Val Cenis where we planned to finish our hike.
Fortunately, J. & I. were both ready and able to do a heroic and rather long logistical exercise by hiking from Refuge de Péclet-Polset down to Les Prioux, taking the car to Refuge de l'Orgère, then hiking all the way from Refuge de l'Orgère to Pralognan-la-Vanoise, arriving only in the very evening and rather tired.
The next day we took the cable-car up to Mont Bochor which cut some altitude meters, even if it didn't shorten the distance that much, and hiked to Refuge du Col de la Vanoise, crossing Lac des Vaches along the way.
It was an overcast evening at the refuge, with a bit of rain, which cut our evening hike towards the semi-dried out Lac des Assiettes short. We only saw some chamois in the distance and they never got close.
The next morning started with a mix of clouds and sun, and we proceeded down to Torrent de la Leisse. The path was initially steep, with a few patches of snow, but eventually became a gentle, mostly level path along the stream, hiking up the Vallon de la Leisse, taking us to Refuge de la Leisse.
We reached the refuge, had lunch and a brief nap, and then enjoyed the amazing view towards Vallon de la Leisse.
The next morning we proceeded to hike down Vallon de la Leisse, stopping for snacks at Refuge d'Entre-Deux-Eaux, and proceeding up to the L'auberge de Bellecombe.
The day was hot again, and we saw many marmots out and about.
My family decided to stay at the auberge, while J. and I hiked to the nearby Lac Blanc where we took a refreshing swim and had some crêpes at the nearby refuge.
The next day we hiked down to Val Cenis, took a bus back to Modane where J. retrieved our car from the Refuge de l'Orgere parking.
Overall, this was a beautiful trip where I really enjoyed the amazing scenery and the kind hospitality of the French people. It's also very family friendly as the refuges are not that far away from each other so planning stages of reasonable length was easy.
The last pictures are from Gorges de la Jogne in Broc, Switzerland, which I briefly visited.
