Back on the blades due to my tennis elbow. The idea is to work on balance and stride length with the hope this will transfer over to rollerskiing.

I decided to head back up to Le Pleynet.

Murianette then over to the Combe de Lancey via the Revel - le Mont backroad. Seriously why make life easy when you can make it hard. The "tres amigos" met over at B.

I'd wondered for a long time if it were possible to reach the Rocher Noire from the Pipay side of les 7 Laux. Normally you climb from the col du Barioz.

Although I had a great day piste skiing at the start of the season at Chamrousse I'd not been back touring this year.

A little afterwork to ski the Cords Passage, a relatively secret descent off the very popular Chamechaude mountain. I stopped at the first step about 80 meters below the final summit.

A chance to look at the avalanche that ripped down to the Col de Porte - Hotel ski lift in January on a risk 5 weekend. The biggest avalanche in 42 years according to the locals.

Excellent spring ski conditions. We focused on some long descents, although in Allevard that means in the 620 to 650 range.

With the col de Marcieu closing its nordic ski area and le Sappey in poor condition the next nearest nordic ski area is the Beldina / les 7 Laux.

Resort OverviewVillard des Lans is situated about 45 minutes by car from Grenoble on the Vercors plateau.