THE SPIRIT OF FREETOURING
10 stages / 16,000 m height gain / Freetouring across the Alps /
An experience to savor and share
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STAGE #1
Briançon > Refuge des Drayères
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ROADBOOK
Starting point: Le Monêtier-les-Bains (1 500 m)
Height gain: 1 400 m
Height loss: 850 m
Technical difficulty: 1/5
Commitment: 3/5
Participants: Cédric Pugin, Adrien Coirier,
ING MAP: 3536OT
TOTAL DISTANCE: 15 km
STAGE DESCRIPTION:
Two-day ski tour with night in unstaffed and unheated refuge for stage 1&2.
OK, and we're off for Stage #1 of The Line! A quickstop at the Briançon road sign for a photo souvenir and then out onto the ground (ground, not snow) in Monnetier for 600 m of altitude climb to reach the snow.
At the beginning of the season this year, the lower, south-facing slopes have little snow cover. It feels like spring in the countryside, t-shirt time.... We finally hit the snow at about 2,100 m. We put our skis on and head for the Roche Noire pass (2,662 m). The snow is hard - we expected as much. But the sky is a perfect blue and on this magnificent December day we then descend to the Chardonnet refuge. The compact snow has rattled our bones a little and and we are in pieces as we make our way deep into the Clarée valley.
Here we are totally immersed in an untouched world and 4 km of flat road await us; a torture for Adrien who gets out the Génépi and sulks for a little while. We reach the Drayères refuge (2,180 m) for our first night, marking the end of this first stage of The Line. After fetching water from a stream, we make ourselves a much-appreciated tea and prepare our freeze-dried Carbonara (the best according to Cédric!). We have just completed an eight-hour trek (including time spent photographing the two stars) and we fall asleep. Tomorrow is another day and another long stage...
THE PRO'S OPINION:
Passing through the peaceful wilderness of the Massif des Cerces and Massif du Thabor, from the peaks the view over the Vanoise and northern Écrins mountains is just fantastic. Technically, both going up and down, there's nothing extreme but bear in mind the distance involved and the amount of daylight for this two-day ski tour.
PRODUCT TEST FEEDBACK:
First ascent in the meadows, no goggles or hat as it's reasonably warm; we ascend with sunglasses. The wind's blowing when we reach the ridge so we put the goggles back on and it's not unpleasant.
#AerospaceApproved
