Minimum altitude: 824 meters
Distance: 13.2 km
Slope Aspect: North
Vertical Climbed: 845 meters (2,772 feet)
Vertical Descended: 881 meters
Rating: 2.2
Avalanche Risk: 3
Snowline: 820
I last came this way in 1998 and made exactly the same mistake, climbing via the Bottier chalets rather than taking the normal path. Doh! That made it very hard for us and we arrived in the Arclusaz valley around 13h30 and decided not to climb all the way to the col which would have meant a descent/transition etc. The snow was excellent to around 1200 meters, a bit heavy after than an almost skiable crust from 1050. The ski down via the Bottier is a really good idea and very skiable via a series of clearings.
25cm of snow at the car park. The road to the summer car park had too much snow. Crusty snow to 1050m but skiable. Powder above, lighter as you climb. Over a meter of snow has fallen in the Bauges since the weekend. Very hard climbing as we had to make tracks all the way to the top.
