Minimum altitude: 1,133 meters
Distance: 40.8 km
Slope Aspect: North-East
Vertical Climbed: 765 meters (2,510 feet)
Vertical Descended: 765 meters
I'd tried to ski the Royale back in 2019 but sections were closed due to lack of snow. Well it was the end of the season. This year is another low snow year but things are just acceptable so back for another bite of the cherry. The route follows the High Vercors plateau, well the southern bit, in an anticlockwise loop covering some 27.5km and 660 vertical meters. It starts with a short climb then a nice flat piste for 4km where there is a large cross and viewpoint. Here things ramp up with 1.5km at 8% to reach a col at 7km (Chalimont) then a short descent into the Herbouilly plateau. You keep heading south across the plateau without (thankfully) taking the black that leads up to the Herbouilly entrance. At the far side of the loop is a black with a couple of very steep climbs of over 10% and 500 and 300m long then a nice 5km descent down to Correncon, about 8% all the way down. Watch out for small orange signs marked Royale, they are easy to miss especially at 20km where there is a sharp right. From Correncon there are a couple of easy climbs over 5km back to Bois Barbu with a final, steepish descent with a couple of tricky turns.
I carried on around the Royale back to Chalimont to cover 40km for the day. Longest x-country ski for some time.
Not much snow, about 10cm in places on the roads, but very well prepared. Very good between 11am and 3pm. Warm and sunny.
