Conquering the Écrins: an adventure for two!

So, after a quick yoghurt, Edo and I set off towards the magical world of the Écrins. We arrived at Pré de Madame Carle at around 7 a.m. and started walking towards the Refuge du Glacier Blanc. The day is spectacular, the sky is deep blue and the nature around us is magnificently wild. We stop for a couple of minutes to quiet our grumbling stomachs, nibble on a piece of rhubarb tart (from Rochemolles, of course – grown with Edo’s mother’s sainted hands) and admire our surroundings: the Pelvoux on one side, the Glacier Noir on the other, the Glacier Blanc and the Glacier des Violettes.

A truly wonderful environment. But, as you know, we don’t like to take long and so we resumed our approach at a brilliant pace and, in less than two hours, we arrived at the start of our route. Yes, because what we’re going to do today, according to the plans of my Guidos, is the Vieux Piton route which leads to the first Arête of the ridge made up of 7 spires, Arêtes des Cineastes, to then continue on the ridge and conquer the next 6 spires. Harnessed and ready to climb, we began this beautiful route with its magnificent traverses and exposed, exciting pitches. The rock is really beautiful and after several “Let it gooo” – “Retrieveddddd” – “When you want” – “I’m leaving!”, we conquered the first Arête and finally stopped for a couple of minutes to contemplate the landscape and eat a little something. We are perfectly on time and the 5-minute break is enough, so we resumed our adventure and made our way towards the next spires.

A marvellous ridge, I only find it difficult to get over a treacherous roof but, thanks to the advice of my Guidos, I overcome it in no time at all. – I’ll leave out my swearing, Edo Santo subito! – Next, we find two roped parties in front of us and, in Guidos’ words, the excitement begins: “From here on you have to be even faster eh, otherwise it will take us ages to do the abseils” – “Roger that boss! No more photos”. The hunger to conquer is really important and so in just a few hours we finished our Treversée des Cineastes and ended with three abseils down to the valley. And it was here that hunger, the bad kind, took hold of us and, between a slice of toma cheese and some breadsticks, we enjoyed the spectacle in front of us, before heading back to the car all happy and with a light heart, to enjoy the most delicious beer of the last period.

Because you know, after sweat and effort and with a smiling heart, beer has a special taste.