Ascent: 1100m
Weather: cloudy and light snow first thing, cold during lunch, warmer, sunnier and clear views in the afternoon
Seen: black squirrel, skiers (some very impressive, some not so much)
Today was planned an ascent of La Gardiole de l'Alp, weather permitting. It dawned cloudy but no wind - so it's ok if you don't see anything as long you don't get blown away. We set off from the gite at 8:30am, I hadn't realised that it was right at the bottom of the village and it seemed to take a lot of effort and up hill to even get out from the houses and roads.
A local dog accompanied us out of the village, and we kept expecting him (or possibly her, it wasn't possible to tell under the long haired retriever coat) to go back, but it stayed with us for quite a while (not even the sight of a squirrel in the trees distracted it) until it was given some cereal bar and went home.
The route took us up, though some trees and up through some open snow above the trees, to the summit. The mountain side seemed very steep and open, the gradient the same most of the way, contouring and turning. There wasn't much to see for quite a lot of the time but occasionally the sky cleared a bit and we got views across the valley, and of the open mountainside below us.
We passed what looked like a sharp ridge, with cornice, and up on to the summit, complete with rickety cross. A short break to admire the views and congratulate ourselves and watch some skiers, whom we'd almost caught up with on the way up, set off down from the summit (a couple falling over not very impressively on the first turns.)
The way down was a lot faster and a lot more fun, snowshoeing down through deep snow. We stopped for lunch not far from the top, again crows keeping a careful eye on proceedings. The views cleared and by the time we'd reached the bottom (complete with hotel terrace and beer) it was quite sunny and warm.
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