La Croix de la Salcette

I've known Murray for over 40 years; he lives a couple of hours drive away near Briancon, where he has worked as a mountain guide for the last 25 years or so. But I hadn't seen him in the last couple of years and decided to rectify that today. I got up early and drove up the Durance valley to his house; after elevenses we hiked steeply up behind his house to the Croix de la Salcette (at 2331 m) for great views of Briancon and all the surrounding peaks. Murray found us an 'interesting' descent and served up pumpkin soup before I drove back home. 

A few pics.

L' Autapie

Looking NW from the summit at 2436 meters

Today was dry, sunny, cold and windy - perfect hiking weather if you dress warmly. The mountains are still basically snow free though an overnight dusting of snow left the peaks above 2200 meters looking a little wintry. I took advantage of the relative lack of snow with a hike up the Autapie; normally at this time of year it's deep in snow and (at least in theory) in a few weeks it should be the top of a ski run. But for today it was a very nice hike, though the wind on the summit was icy cold. The descent is by the east side of the mountain, so it was in the shade and very chilly. I arrived back at the car just as it was getting dark, very happy with my day out.

A few pics.

La Cirque de Juan

A lot of my hikes are 'repeats' but today I managed a new local hike. The Cirque de Juan is a relatively open cirque just above the tree line surrounded by ridges going up to 2400 meters. There's a cabane but the sheep have headed down by now and I had the whole cirque to myself. From the ridge I had huge views in every direction; very nice.

Some 'arty' out of focus pics.