Graian Alps (Italy-France), 5-14 August 2016
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Day five. Camping on the snow.
The weather was cloudy, for the first time during this trip. We even had some drizzle. We planned to go down the Lombarde valley to Refuge Averole and then start climbing up towards Passage du Colerin. The paths were well marked. We could have camped just above the refuge (at around 2320 m), but decided to go up much further and camp by the glacier lake at 3020m. Finding a camping spot by the lake proved difficult among the moraines and sheepbacks, and following some intense negotitations it was agreed to camp on a snowfield. This was an amazing and memorable camping spot.
The red line shows our track. The arrow shows direction of travel. The tent icon shows our camping spot. Shift-click on the track link will open it in nakarte.me.
From the camping spot, we went down into the valley and found yesterday's path. As we camped at 2700 m, there was no flora, just rocks and boulders.
Glacier derriere de Clapier is visible behind the girls.
The path crosses the stream.
This path connects two refuge buildings, so a good bridge was built for the visitors.
Green meadows down in the valley. We have not seen so many different plants and animals in this trip. We met marmots, and eagles, and little voles, and lots of flowers.
Igor even found an edelweiss flower. Its lating name Leontopodium is derived from Greek lion (leon) and foot (podion), because it resembles a lion's foot.
Dianthus pavonius. Peacock-eye Pink.
We first saw the refuge quite some time ago, it took a very long time to reach it. It was not very friendly. They did not have weather forecast, we even could not through away rubbish. We decided not waste our time and went up.
The only good thing we found in the refuge were the chicken.
We came from the valley on the left. We are climbing up, to cross back into Italy.
It started drizzling, and we put up our tent, to enjoy a lunch under a roof. However, the drizzle stopped in no time, so our tent had no use in this trip.
The higher we climbed, the harsher were the surroundings. The plants disappeared, only rocks are left. The marked path is crossing a stream in a strange place, we could have crossed it much easier lower down.
The glacier lake at last - here we were planning to camp at 3020 m.
While the grown ups are searching for a good camping spot, the girls are building cairns.
The clouds were rising from the valley all evening. We felt as though we were on a desert island.
After lengthy negotitations, we agreed to camp on a snow field, as it was the best camping spot.
Pitching the tents.
We laid our rope on the floor of one tent, to keep sleeping bags away from the cold snow.
The sun is trying to break through the clouds.
Waiting for the dinner. Everything takes longer to cook at this altitude.
After-dinner portrait.
