Pic Blanc du Gallibier, 21 Jan 2007

The first 'gita' of the SUCAI Scuola di Scialpinismo, came at the end of a week of 3,500m freezing levels, and spring-like weather across the Alps. We expected a rather soggy washout, but got April in January instead. Snow and sunshine at the top, grass and clouds at the bottom: actually, a great day.

The normal route to the Pic Blanc du Gallibier starts from the road on the Briancon side of the Col du Lautaret, but due to lack of snow at 2000m (groan) we started from the Col du Lautaret car park. It was cloudy and snowing a little at the bottom, but as we snaked our way up the snow-covered road to the Col du Galibier, the sun emerged, and from there up we got a stunning mix of sun from above, and clouds below.

To see our route, please download this Google Earth file It also contains geo-tagged photos along the route. I'll get round to adding some of the better ones to this page when I have the time - but in the meantime you can see all of them here.

And the grass at the bottom - it wasn't that bad - see for yourself...