Minimum altitude: 1,419 meters
Distance: 5 km
Slope Aspect: South-West
Vertical Climbed: 500 meters (1,641 feet)
Vertical Descended: 500 meters
Rating: 1.1
Avalanche Risk: 3
Snowline: 1,420
We've had quite a bit of fresh snow over the last 5 days. The automatic weather station at the Col de Porte (1300 meters) showed two falls of 30 + 25cm.The problem is, it is May, and snow melts, fast. I'd been up at the Col du Coq yesterday and the remains of last week's fall was still around on north facing slopes and in couloirs. With an overnight top up of 25cm surely enough to ski?
Well not quite. Where there was sufficient depth the snow was quite heavy and not great to ski, otherwise there was a risk of hitting rocks. So not the awesome end of season skiing I thought about. My head told me to go to the Col du Pouta, there I would at least have been skiing on a base of man made snow laid down by the resort. But still it was nice to get out into the Chartreuse.
I didn't tackle the access to the summit due to the warming and risks of purges in this terrain trap.
Route Taken: Prairie, sw couloir + Pravouta SE
Access: clear
Country: France Area: Chartreuse Trailhead: Col Du Coq
Sunny + Low cloud, 2C at Col
