A confidential route in the Chartreuse that holds snow well and is very skiable in the lower woods.

Follow the les Cottaves route to the summit. http://pistehors.com/charmant-som-from-les-cottaves.

It snowed on Saturday but also rained to high altitude. I was surprised to see how much the snowline had climbed since last week when it was skiable from 1050 meters.

A quick Charvet under grey skies and very light rain. The snow had changed a lot and was heavy and stickly. Luc was suffering from snow sticking to his old skins.

The snow cover is thin below 1600 m so this seemed like a good plan to go powder hunting on north and west slopes.

With the fresh snow, wind and uncertain weather I decided to avoid the Belledonne today (the conditions were very good early in the morning looking at other reports) and check out the North side of th

Climb to the summit of the Pravouta (see topo Pravouta SE Face) without removing skins traverse to the summit of the Roc d'Arguille (1768m).

ClimbFrom the parking at pt1220m above le Baure or higher later in the Spring follow the road to the Col du Coq (named after the Rock Ptarmigan that are common in the sector).

ClimbFrom Prabert climb the road to the Pont de la Betta turn at around 1300 meters. Descend a short distance to the Pont de la Betta then take a steep forest trail to the left (SE).

Classic ski tour of the West Chartreuse. Attention the Col de Léchaud is very prone to windslab on both sides, note the prevailing winds. There have been a number of fatalities at this spot.