Cold e Porte and Couvaloup

8 January 2026

This “snow shoe” outing was last attempted in Feb 2025. At that time I wrote in the Blog :-

“At least one intending snow shoer enquired as to whether this hike could be moved from Thursday to Wednesday in view of the poor weather forecast for Thursday, but following the addage that there is no such thing as wrong weather, only wrong gear, we ploughed ahead.”

The conditions seemed to be nearly the same this year, and although we had one late “poor weather” cancellation no one suggested another day and 6 of us turned out at Le Coutzet parking, aka Le Refuge de la Barillette, aka L’Archette (1160m) just after 10am.

Attending : Mark2ts, Mervyn, Nathan, PeterS, Ross and PeterT with Kobie.

The weather forecast seemed not unreasonable up until 3pm, by which time we should be, with luck and a following wind, in the vicinty of the vehicles. In view of this threat I half-offered a simpler low-level routing to the Couvaloup restaurant avoiding the infamous Col altogther but this was roundly rejected and a “let’s go for it” spirit prevailed.

There was a brief discussion as to whether to carry snow shoes, there being much snow about, but the consensus was that it was not deep enough to justify the extra hassle and weight. Possibly our first mistake.

Off we went up the unconsolidated snowy slopes up into the combe between the Pte de Fin Château and La Barillette. It began to appear the Kobie was going to get his legs and paws clogged up so I got out his orange boots and put them on. On about ten occasions one of them or another had to be refixed, this caused me to become rather tired bending down etc, I don’t know how Kobie felt but in general they worked and he got used to them.

It got steeper as we struggled on. Somehow this seemed much harder than last year. My watch record told me afterwards that the effort had been “HARD”, with my heart rate recording nearly 18 minutes at over 135 bpm, quite a lot for me.

We circled below the Chalet des Apprentis and headed towards the Col de Porte, getting hotter – was it my thermobaric long johns? PeterS led ahead as we approached the col. A little before we arrived, a large herd of chamois appeared just below us on our hillside and they ran off as Kobie went across to inspect. I whistled and Kobie returned fairly quickly sans a snow boot. Nothing for it but to traverse out across the slope in search of it. Happily it was not far out as K had given up the chase in his lumbering boots. The chamois traversed across to their nursery on the steep cliffs below la Dôle, well captured in PeterS’s photo.

We were soon at the Col de Porte (1557m) where it has been our habit to take an apèro or two before descending, but our struggle up in the snow had taken its toll of the time (and of our energy) in view of the need to get back before the bad weather. At least two bottles of Luins best white wine remained unopened (and a flask of strong black coffee).

So, instead of apèros it was down, down the slippery snow slopes, unconsolidated white cream on which we slipped and stumbled with rocks and grass lurking beneath. My knees did not enjoy the descent.

We were soon down past the Poêle Chaud chalet and then had to track across and up to the blue ski run, which had not been pisted.

We were soon cruising down to the Restaurant Couvaloup de Crans, 1289m, entering the large salle at 12.45 pm to a warm fire and with only one table of three as paying occupants, plus the resident pit-bull by the fire. It was good that I’d booked, reconfirmed, and then confirmed again that we were going to be a little late…..

PeterS, Mark2ts and Ross

The friendly hostess soon had us fixed up with beer (the excellent Dr Gabs), Kobie had his mat and chews, and the fire kept us nice and warm, as did the top-class croutes and röstis.

We drank to absent friends, some recovering, some away, some just keeping warm. All in all the Couvaloup lived up to its excellent reputation, another fine meal in the hills, washed down with something from Mervyn’s flask (the Bottle not being present).

All too soon it was time (in view of the impending forecasted bad weather) to pay up and leave. Outside it was slightly precipitating but it got to be more sleety rain than rainy sleet. We opted for the quick way back down the Route des Couvaloups (the tarmacked car road in summer but now covered in snow) towards Couvaloup de St-Cergue and then on a path to La St-Cergue (there seems to be a lack of imagination in place names in this area!), finally heading up chemin des Gentianes.

As we got back closer to the cars it became clear that the weather was warming and we were quite damp on the outside. All that worry about a storm was unnecessary.

All in all another memorable hike with great company and a fine lunch. We did not really need snow shoes, they would have been necessary if the snow was harder and had there been any ice. Kobie’s boots were a success but I need more practice to fix them on him more securely. Thanks everyone for the great company. Til the next time.

11km and 500m or so.