We couldn't resist the sunshine for another skimo outing. Today we headed for Croix de l'Écuelle. A lower summit at 1815m, but with lovely views. We paused on the ascent to practice avalanche rescue in the shelter of the trees, before continuing up the windy exposed slope.
The wind grew really strong and we battled against it to make the summit. Suddenly we saw the point, and quickly ducked down the other side, which offered more protection.
The snow wasn't as soft as we hope for the descent, changing often between icy wind-pack and sticky sludge lower down, with a few nice patches in the trees.
We stopped by a few chalets not too far above the parking, to sit in the sun. We watched a long crack develop in the snow on one of the roofs, and widen. Of course we waited for it to slide before we could continue on our way.
