March 2023
The snowshoeing adventure organized and provided by Sally Guillaume and her company, The Undiscovered Mountains, was the best snowshoeing experience I have had in my 25 years of practicing this sport.
During this holiday outing the pleasant surprise awaited us every day. It began with the place where we were staying: The Farmhouse, a very unassuming name, the Grange des Ecrins in Chabottes, run by Jean and Mag. But inside you will see a historic building beautifully decorated. The dining room had a long table, which was perfect for including everybody in the group. And the next surprise was the food. Of course, breakfast was a classic French style buffet with croissants so fresh that your fingers “burned”, (ha ha). Everyone received sandwiches, drinks, etc., for the hike. But the dinners were a real fantastic surprise. We were spoiled like members of the king’s court with dinners different every day representing various cultural/national styles and served as a beautiful artwork! There were many different cheeses to try and to indulge our palates. (I included a few photos).
Due to the climate change everyone was concerned about the snow. There was no snow in Chabottes. But Salley had another surprise waiting for us. She had a crew of two guides, (Fabrice and Bernard), who were trained not just in safe guiding on snow covered slopes, but experienced drivers on extremely narrow mountain roads to get us to the elevations where there was plenty of deep snow perfect for snowshoeing. These two gentlemen were not just guides who knew the local terrain like the palm of their hands, but trained in difficult mountain rescue missions. I could tell, they led us with confidence over the snow slopes which were fun and challenging, if you liked, and safe to glisse.
We snowshoed in Prapic, Rocherousse plateau and the Queyrelet ridge, refuge du Tourond in Champoleon valley. We went up to the Col de Pourrachiere from Ancelle , to the Foret des Marches and to the hamlet of Les Marches from Orcieres.
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