{"id":3759,"date":"2023-02-17T15:37:51","date_gmt":"2023-02-17T14:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/?p=3759"},"modified":"2023-03-08T16:34:52","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T15:34:52","slug":"snowshoeing-to-chalet-gaillard-and-beyond-16-february-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/2023\/02\/17\/snowshoeing-to-chalet-gaillard-and-beyond-16-february-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowshoeing to Chalet Gaillard and beyond 16 February, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nine of us met at the Divonne lake car park and set off in a convoy of three cars to the designated What3words meeting point of \u201cvowel.handle.scornful\u201d above Bois D\u2019Amont by the For\u00eat de Risoux which straddles the border between France and Switzerland.  Temperatures of -6c were indicated in the cars at the bottom of the valley but had climbed to a balmy -2c by the time we reached Peter and Mike who had arrived barely a minute before us.  They were, like Nicholas, sadly dog-less as we were entering the natural reserve, although we noticed a wolf-like hound running freely in some nearby gardens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bottoms up!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After booting up, we walked a short distance to the start of our steep climb through the forest but within 20 metres decided to don snowshoes.  As usual, some acrobatic manoeuvres were required to accomplish this, but we set off at a rate of knots belying the age differential of twenty years between the members.  Thankfully, even the youngest were able to keep up and we trudged up the first brutal ascent.  Unfortunately, the trees were now devoid of the snow that Mark 2rrs and I had witnessed some 10 days before, but the trail was sufficiently snow\/ice-covered to warrant the use of our raquettes.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Well, at least Peter\u2019s in focus!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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And on we go<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We reached the Chalet Gaillard within 1 \u00bd hours and we confirmed our presence in the area to the hut manager.  A young Belgian lady approached us whilst coffee was being consumed and told us that she was on a 10-day snowshoe tour through the Jura.  We were impressed that she was doing this alone, whilst carrying an enormous rucksack weighing more than 15kgs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chalet Gaillard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Duly boosted by caffeine, we continued towards our goal of Le Roche Bernard.  This viewpoint proved be at the top of an impressive cliff overlooking the dual lakes of Bellefontaine and Mortes which are in the departments of Jura and Doubs respectively.  The vista North-West across the Jura range was breathtaking, and inevitably a bottle or so was cracked open to celebrate our achievement.  
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stephen and Peter getting their breath back<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Lac de Bellefontaine and Lac des Mortes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The group by Peter. Larry keeping down<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Top half of group with Peter taken by local amateur<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After the obligatory photos were taken, we hastened back to the Chalet reaching there just three minutes after our planned rdv time.  True Swiss, or maybe Jurassic, timing!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Someone got there before us<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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As if a GIN member would!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The eleven of us squeezed onto a table in the small dining area and ordered our meals.  The plat du jour, partaken by everyone, was a hearty bean and vegetable soup with lumps of sausage and generous helpings of grated cheese.  Mark and I had eaten exactly the same fare previously and wondered if, in fact, it was the plat de chaque jour!  Beers were ordered by some as well as a litre of red wine.  The latter had a distinctly watery taste raising some possibly libellous suspicions.  Some persevered with it, but Peter threw in the towel and ordered a (price unknown) bottle of Bordeaux which saved the day.  Mike gallantly finished off the house wine declaring that he wasn\u2019t up to a full-bodied red at that time of the day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Philip wondering what on earth he was drinking<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Nicholas holding an enormous one<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Steve enjoying the beans<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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That bloomin\u2019 pepper grinder again<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The latest addition to the flask<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Conversations were as diverse as usual, but those of us at the North-West end of the table noticed some very animated cultural discussions taking place at the South-East end.  Of course, absent friends were heartily toasted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Deserts and coffees downed, we set off for the relatively easy stroll back to the cars.  Steve decided that snowshoes were for wimps and elected to strap his to his backpack and leg it home.  In the icy conditions, those following had cameras at the ready expecting some good photo opportunities but he is very sure-footed and kept upright.  
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sunshine boys<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

GIN outings often have small, or larger, dramas (helicopters, etc), and this one didn\u2019t disappoint.  Two thirds of the way back, Peter, who was leading, encountered a(nother) young girl who had lost her family, and her way back to her starting point.  She was from Grenoble, 14 years old, and was pleasantly named Oc\u00e8ane.  Having given her mobile phone to her mother and knowing that it was on mute, she was unable to get in touch with her.  Fortunately, she finally managed to remember the number of her brother so she used one of our phones to try to call him.  Of course, there was no network connection at that spot anyway, so rather than leaving this little defenseless maiden in the dark forest, we offered to take her back to our cars, about 1km away.  We must have looked the harmless old codgers that we are, as she accepted our offer and later on was able to reach her brother\u2019s phone, assuring him that she was in safe hands.  When we got back to the parking spot, I drove down to the village and delivered her to her mother who was anxiously awaiting her.  Then I went back to the rest of the group to say our goodbyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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All back safely<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Present and correct: Marks 2rrs and 2tts, Peter, Mike, David, Stephen, Philip, Nicholas, Nathan, Larry, Richard.  Mark informs me that eleven was a record for us, so well done, everyone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Distance: a generous 12kms and 450ms d\u00e9nivellation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More snow, please, for the next sortie!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nine of us met at the Divonne lake car park and set off in a convoy of three cars to the designated What3words meeting point of \u201cvowel.handle.scornful\u201d above Bois D\u2019Amont by the For\u00eat de Risoux which straddles the border between France and Switzerland.  Temperatures of -6c were indicated in the cars at the bottom of the … Continue reading “Snowshoeing to Chalet Gaillard and beyond 16 February, 2023”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-snowshoes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3759"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3779,"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3759\/revisions\/3779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}