Last Friday I did a couple of laps of Chamchaude, the highest summit in the Chartreuse mountains at 2082 meters. I didn’t have time to post a trip report before going away but as the photos are rather nice, and the ski conditions exceptional for a 20th April, I will put up this rather late reports.

Here is la Pinea opposite, you can just see a faint brown colour in the trees, Ansell Adams style. The summit is skiable and KenR and I have skied the couloir down the back which you can find on the shoulder on the right below the summit (voie de Vermorel).

I’d initially thought about climbing via the Canyon but was not feeling too great having come back from CH the night before. It was skied on Saturday morning.

At 1800m you can see the Bachassons chalet almost completely under snow.

Whoever did the track made a fantastic job, a real pro.

The summit plateau has hardly any ski tracks.

Looking down from the summit, tracks through the par-avalanches. You can see some pretty exceptional snow depths on the right.

The Folatiere rock in the foreground and tracks through the avalanche protection. The direct route you see above is quite steep

and not without avalanche risk (that’s why there is protection, doh!).