Thanks be to modern weather forecasts ! The Thursday SS hike was brought forward to Wednesday, after the awful forecast for Thursday 19th.
Nine hopefuls turned out at La Givrine (1211m) at 10.15am, plus 2 dogs.
RichardS, Philip, Mark2rs, Mark2ts, Mervyn, Nathan and Onyx, Rob (by train), and me and Kobie.
Being a SnowShoe hike we carried snowshoes (Philip wore his SSs as his sack was very small) just in case. And as it turned out they were not needed – no worries, we burnt off a few more calories.
The aim was to set out via the 20 March 2020 SS hike in which we had magnificent powder. This of course was much earlier in the season, and while we had snow there was not a lot of powder.
As we progressed up the a snowmobile came roaring up the track below us with Moos the dog (Kobie’s friend) charging out in front. It was Mariane and her partner who were travelling up to La Genolière for the day.
We progressed along the trail NE then NW into the forest emerging into a snowy pasture.
We got a bit of sun then spots of rain ! Our trail reached the track leading up to Pré du Four Chalet (1395m) where we stopped for apèros.
We had stopped here at least twice before in the past. Gone were the sofas, but there were two benches and a table. And the sun came out !
A quick call was made to Mamac to announced a delay in our arrival, now past 1pm. There was some discussion of whether we men were appreciated enough by our partners.
Time to go and we wended our way down past chalet Les Coppettes leading after 2 km to Restaurant chez Mamac (1196m).
It was so warm that we all decided to sit outside for an al fresco fondu. This was helpful as the dogs could roam about, but it was amazing just how warm it was for 18 Dec.
Two triphons and three croutes were washed down with excellent chasselas and a drop or two of Richard’s Bohemian (Rhapsody) kirsch – it being necessary to dunk bread in it before scooping into liquid cheese.
It was all too soon over. Much banter, fine cheese good beer, wine and coffee. We had hardly noticed that the temperature had been dropping, until we went inside for the loos.
We all agreed that as it was getting late-ish and darkness was coming that we would stroll down and pick up the 3.50pm train back up to La Givrine.
A nice stroll in the snow with good company to end out the year. 7km (about) and 212m (about). Happy Christmas everyone and here’s to safe and fun hiking in 2025.
