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Any old iron - Ferrouillet Pointe Centrale Nord
Posted: 26 July 2007 08:42 PM  
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Luc called on his mobile… did I fancy climbing the Ferrouillet? Ferrouillet, Ferrouillet, sounds like a mountain made of iron. I’d passed by a few times on skis and foot and had fancied the summit. While the Pointe Centrale Sud was pretty straightforward if long trek the Pointe Nord was much more complicated.

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Ferrouillet Pointe Centrale nord

The walk is initially on good paths, past the Pont de la Betta and under the Orionde and Bartlett, two of our favourites ski touring.

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and then around the lac du Crop. At 600 vertical meters from the trailhead this is as far as most walkers get. A great spot for a pic-nic or a spot of fishing for alpine trout.

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above the lake we left the GR549 walking trail and traversed a small snow field above the lac Bleu. This snowfield seems to be a year round affair and was practically ice - a micro glacier. We were then presented with a 30 meter vertical rock face with a waterfall in the middle. We made for fault in the rocks

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face on it looks difficult but as you approach the gradient flattens out and it looks nothing more than a scramble. Don’t be fooled. Although not difficult it is still a 3.x climb up mossy, damp and cold rocks. Wary of rockfall we wore helmets.

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What followed was a scramble up a rocky bowl. Which we both agreed would be fantastic to ski down in 50cm of powder.

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This lead up to the col du Ferrouillet with views over the Trois Laux (three lakes) and the glaciers of the Grandes Rousses (or big red-heads according to Google translation).

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We hesitated for the descent, back the way we came down with the mossy crack or the south-west couloir. The latter is a steep skiing route. In the summer the top is humid grass with old snow in the middle section. We had brought axes not for cutting steps in the snowfield

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but to secure ourselves on the wet and slippery grass covered slopes at the entrance to the couloir, a fall here would have finished some 200-300 meters below

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there is rockfall in the couloir hence the climbing helmets and a step at mid slope which requires a small rappel (bring a 30 meter rope and a harness) to pass safely

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finally you regain the lac bleu after a glissade down scree slopes

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Around 1300 meters but signifcantly technical for a walker to be ahem… interesting. The slopes leading to the summit are a veritable garden of alpine flowers with dozens of species sharing the same space. Due to the difficulty of access the route is not well travelled by humans and you have a good chance of seeing groups of chamois grazing and even marmottes. However remember your helmet, ax and rope, not a walk for the inexperienced.

http://pistehors.com/hiking/wiki/Belledonne/Ferrouillet-Pointe-Centrale-Nord-By-The-South-west-Couloir