{"id":5773,"date":"2025-03-28T11:32:34","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T10:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/?p=5773"},"modified":"2025-03-30T15:56:18","modified_gmt":"2025-03-30T14:56:18","slug":"gin-hike-col-du-mollendruz-to-chatel-darruffens-on-27-march-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/2025\/03\/28\/gin-hike-col-du-mollendruz-to-chatel-darruffens-on-27-march-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"GIN snowshoe: Col du Mollendruz to Chatel d’Arruffens on 27 March 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Six participants (Peter T, Mike H, Nathan, Richard, Ross, and Peter S) with 2 dogs (Kobie and Rocco) met at the Col du Mollendruz for the last snowshoe of the 2024-2025 season. Cloudy skies, the cool temperature (3\u00b0C) and a brisk bise wind called for extra jackets, beanies and gloves. There was no sign of any snow and definitely no snowshoes or crampons required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The trail started on the left side of the Nordic sport cabin and headed down the gravel road to the Grand Chardeve (1097m) where it met the path up from L\u2019Isle. After a gentle climb up through the forest we reached the fallen tree for a photo reminder of a previous hike done in Aug 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This time RichardS is with us, as well ats PeterS and Ross.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Aug 2024 Hike. We met RichardS at the Chatel Restaurant on the top.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A little further along the contour, a quaint chalet (Chalet des Italiens) with 2 benches prompted a water break. While Peter T and Ross settled in on the benches, Mike tucked into his sandwich thinking it was picnic time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At the ap\u00e8ro stop with only nuts for ap\u00e8ro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


After a short inspection of the inside of the chalet, the group continued up to the junction with the path from Montricher and then onwards to explore the archaeological site of the Chatel d\u2019Arruffens. The panel describes its origins as a fortified refuge which was used between 1500 BC up to 150 AD by ancient Celts during \u201ctroubled times” on the plains below. Little remains of the fortifications except a small cluster of \u201csacred rocks\u201d which resulted in another photo opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Richard leans on and PeterS inspects the sacred rock – in the SUN !!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


After some indecision, a sheltered mound was chosen for the picnic. Before tucking into his ham and cheese wrap from the Volg, Peter T demonstrated use of the new suction device (LifeVac) he had acquired in case of a choking attack. This was quickly followed by the opening of a fine bottle of Cote du Rhone which served to, as it were, wash it all down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The LifeVac Seminar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Lunch Spot – PeterT and his ham and cheese sandwich (The Volg Choker) – and his LifeVac<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After leaving the picnic mound, the path led up through fields of early white and purple crocuses waiting for the sun to burst into bloom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Croci<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With the bise picking up, there was a brief stop at the cross marking the summit of Chatel 1404m) before descending down into the valley below the Buvette d\u2019Chatel (closed in winter).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Summit photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We passed this way on 16 Sept 2021 <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A short uphill led to the Jura Club of Cossonay where the sheltered porch allowed savouring the Corsican cedar brew from Richard\u2019s renowned bottle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Coffee stop and Richard offers his Corsican Cedras libation (quite nice)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


The final stretch tracked down the road to emerge from the forest above the Chalet du Mollendruz (recently closed at the end of the winter season). The group returned to the Mollendruz parking to complete a 4.5 hour tour of 11 km, and ~500m d\u00e9nivel\u00e9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six participants (Peter T, Mike H, Nathan, Richard, Ross, and Peter S) with 2 dogs (Kobie and Rocco) met at the Col du Mollendruz for the last snowshoe of the 2024-2025 season. Cloudy skies, the cool temperature (3\u00b0C) and a brisk bise wind called for extra jackets, beanies and gloves. There was no sign of … Continue reading “GIN snowshoe: Col du Mollendruz to Chatel d’Arruffens on 27 March 2025”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hikes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5773","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\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5773"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5814,"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5773\/revisions\/5814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}