It certainly feels like winter is here now although the snow has melted around the chalet. Up the mountain it’s beginning to accumulate and it’s cold enough that, apart from sunny south slopes, it’s not melting too much. I decided to take advantage of the great weather and climb the Tour de Famelon, one of the three iconic limestone “tours” that dominate the skyline of this region. To make a day of it I climbed all the way from the chalet up through the forest taking some snowshoes and ice-axes to deal with the snow and ice higher up.
As a sign of the season, as I was having breakfast some deer came down through the meadow outside. They spend the summer months above the village and when winter comes move down through the village to the forests below. Higher up I encountered a herd of chamois who are also heading down a little to the forests just above the village. There’s a lot of tracks all over the mountains as the animals make the most of conditions before the snow takes hold.
Just above the restaurant Les Fers I switched to snowshoes to climb the last 300m up to the summit. There’s a quick, short scramble onto the summit and I clatter up with snowshoes on using the front points of the crampons for some grip. The views are magnificent, Mont Blanc in one direction, the Jura and the pre-alps in other directions.
