Cet article est également disponible en: French
When I stayed at the unmanned Pla Guilhem hostel last year, I said to myself I would come back when the vast plateau was covered in snow. Yesterday I was there again.
I slept in the Refuge forestier, not far from the Mariailles hostel, which is closed until 28 April.
In the morning I climbed up to the plateau and paid a brief visit to the hut. The door was half hidden under the snow, but opens inwards. Inside, more snow blown through small holes in the windows.
On the way up to the Pic des Sept Hommes (2650m) my water bottles started freezing. The three hoods and woollen hat I was wearing were not enough; I had to cut a hole into the hat to convert it into a balaclava. My walking poles were blown around like pendulums.
But in the patches where the snow had gone, purple crocuses were beginning to flower.
This entry was posted on Thursday, April 20th, 2017 at 3:43 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment below, or trackback from your own site.
Footprints on the mountains