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Attending : Marks W and W, Richard, David, Mervyn, Steve, Peter and new member Mike Hempstead.

The team of eight, or rather two teams of socially-distanced 4, assembled at the Pétra Felix parking some 2km past Mollendruz Col, on a cold and cloudy February day, under guidance of Richard mentored by Mark Wn. It indeed cold again with -7C expected so we had wrapped up for it. Our intended challenge was a 360 metre ascent of the Dent de Vaulion up a trail through the forest almost due north from the parking. Team 1 and Team 2 had not been assiduously delineated and we therefore took a fluid approach, as is our custom.

Richard had some trouble with his sticks. They were sticking and would not extend having iced up from a previous expedition. Richard employed the stuck stick under your vest technique – which seemed not to work. Hot (mint) tea may have worked on one, and I believe we discussed urine. A sharp thwack seemed to work finally on the other.

Very soon all but Steve donned snow shoes as we ascended gradually through the hoar-rimed trees. The snow was good and cold, but there was a slight wind in our faces and the sun was hidden. Exiting the (Schilliger snow-clad) forest the cloud thickened and the cold intensified. Before long, or rather behind Long (who finally donned snow-shoes before the summit ridge), we were soon at the summit itself and sorting to the main task, establishing the bar on a snowy bench by the summit beacon. Polish Slimowitz inside us we unanimously agreed to eat our lunch there and then standing around our excellent bar now festooned with wines from South Africa (Chenin Blanc) and Switzerland (Fechy and Luins), and other stronger potions. It was perhaps the coldest lunch on record, but we were warmed from within and by the spirit of the two virtual teams at arms length, there assembled as one. Absent friends were duly toasted. The sun was ghostly and never came through strongly, and the expected summit views were indeed terrible, or rather just cloudy. Many subjects were thoroughly chewed over including Brexit, COVID19, vaccines, rugby, the EU and the state of the world. And dogs.

All too soon, or perhaps not too late that we froze in place, it was time to leave our summit summit. Both teams opted for a direct descent along the same route and after Long we were back at the cars. Mervyn duly brought out some reviving glue-wein that he had been portering.

A memorable outing with a summit summit meeting in real winter conditions.

Photos : Watts, Saynor, Long, Taylor

Mark Warren had chosen a splendid day for participants, 7 of us in all. The conditions were nye-on perfect. Cold, no wind, bright sun, deep powder and a fine hike in prospect up Grand Mt Rond (GMR) and back over petit.

Marks W and W, David, Richard, Steve, Mervyn and Peter attended with apologies from Drew, Rob and Philip.

We assembled and set off from the Col de la Faucille where every establishment and lift including the loos were shut up and boarded in this time of pandemic. Nevertheless there were quite a few folk out and about, including herds of tiny French tots on snow shoes, as well as many others on raquettes and back-country skiers, with a not un-small number of happy dogs (when he grows up next year Kobie is coming!). It wasn’t long before we were stepping gently up the forest trail in fir trees covered in sparkling powder and before long the tiny tots were left behind and we were out in the paradise of a Jura winter and into the glare of a fine sun.

It is fair to say that most of us reflected afterwards that this had been a best-ever and indeed magnificent temperance outing on snowshoes, certainly of recent times. This may have been due to short memories, or partly the fantastic conditions and views and partly due to the numbers of bottles of wine we consumed with social distancing on the top of GMR, accompanied by sandwiches, digestifs and coffee, all of which followed Richard’s Grappa surprise. We toasted absent friends, perhaps several times, as well as fraternising with a pair of Geneva old-timers who had somewhat absent-mindedly forgotten to bring alcohol to the summit. The only thing missing was a bar (to be remedied if we can find a lightweight portable one on the internet from China). Duly sated we flowed down the creamy thick, crystal powder of GMR and cruised across to the Petit Mt Rond amazed by the snow formations on the trees and cornices. After a full team photo shoot on a wooden bar (too small for our future use) we then slid back down the unpisted ski-run of PMR, some of us prostrated on poly-bags.

A truly memorable and staggering day. Thanks to Mark Warren for organising such a day of perfect conditions and raising the bar. Looking forward to many more. Onwards to vaccinations.

But not in quite such surreal conditions

Leader Rob. Attending Richard, Mark Wn, Peter.

Brought forward to Monday in view of an impending snow storm Tuesday, Steve had to miss out because it was his last day of quarantine. Philip was recuperating and Mark Wts had a heating problem, so only four of us assembled in frigid temperatures (it was -11.5C at Marchairuz col) at the EauFroide (only -7C) parking at the start of the ski trail back to Givrine. It was bitterly cold, but there was not a cloud in the sky so we knew we would get the sun to warm us eventually. Crystals of snow glistened in the advancing light as we threaded through a powder maze of christmas trees trying to keep fingers and vital parts warm. The powder was impeccable and after the start we saw no others on snow shoes all day.

Lunch was taken on a small hill in the sunshine, along with some odd liquids including a cold alcoholic version of coffee, Scottish fluid and something Norwegian. This is as good as it gets! The return route included further denivellation and good trails through fine forest. The icing on the cake back at the cars was provided by Mark who poured us champagne taken with galette celebrating the start of the snow shoe season.

A memorable start to 2021. Looking forward to more of the same and a better year than last.

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