April 26, 2010, Pic Ouest de Combeynot

Thanks to Seth Davis for suggesting this peak as a good intro to the Ecrins massif.  Straight up from Col du Lautaret, we were the last group of a dozen or so randonneurs.   Snow was firm, I needed ski crampons before Rob but eventually he decided to use them too.   The final 100 meters we did on foot since the skiing was unlikely to be fun.   Sure enough, on the way down we first skied stiff frozen ruts, then not wanting more of that, we took a NE aspect option instead of NW, much to the concern of a French couple we met.

"Very wet, very dangerous" they said, but we survived 200 meters of mush, then had a few hundred more of reasonable soft corn, and then more mush to the car.   The views from the top, however, were spectacular, and we could imagine what four months here might do for one's happiness, eh Seth and Holly?