plateau d'Emparis

We did a quick Carrefour run this morning, and then geared up for hiking in the Ecrins. After a little vacillation, we decided to try something new rather than le Lavey and chose a trail past some alpine lakes near the Col Saint-Georges. This also gave me a chance to shake down our new civic, and it definitely didn't disappoint: plenty of power to pass even going uphill, and it handles great. The ergonomics are very good too. Even with some pretty spirited driving (a little to the dismay of Chloe, probably), we averaged 35 mpg, which is very good in the mountains, I would say. The road to Bourg D'Oisans has been greatly improved since our last stay, with new wide roads and roundabouts where there used to be tiny roads that took you right through small towns. I'd be interested to hear about whether it has made much of a difference to the traffic going to the big ski resorts or not. Anyway, we didn't read the description of the trailhead access very carefully and missed the part about a 14km long "piste pastorale", which turned out to be a pretty goddamn scary narrow dirt road with a few thousand feet worth of cliff right off your bumper. No stress at all. Here's one of the less steep parts:


And here's our sexy new ride in the parking lot, a little dusty from the road up


The hike itself was beautiful. It passed through rolling alpine hills and unbelievable views of glaciers and La Meije for almost the entire walk.
Le Lac Noir (2440 meters):


Le Lac Lerie

The trail back

I must be out of shape because it was a pretty tiring hike, despite being quite short, and with very little altitude gain. While I was slogging up one of the steeper parts right near the Lac Cristallin, I reflected on how much your perspective can change once you have a kid. Chloe and I used to argue about equitable load distribution in our packs ("I have the rope!","But I have all the quickdraws!"), which seems pretty silly these days. The thought of a 9 pound rope in a one pound pack seems positively sublime compared to a screaming and lurching 30 pound 23 month old strapped a few inches from my ears.