up high... (the Taillefer)

Luring Juan with rumours of interesting flora, we agreed we'd see how far up the  (2587m) Taillefer massif we could go. This huge lump of a mountain is an iconic landmark in the Grenoble area.  (A propos of nothing, Wikipedia claims that "At the Battle of Hastings, Taillefer recited the Chanson de Roland to the Norman troops while juggling with his sword." Love the thought of that.) 

Starting from the Combe de l'Oursière, just NE of the ski-resort village of La Morte, we walked through mosquito-laden azaleas (see here for the utterly different winter version of this scene).

... then up and along the Crête du Brouffier, up the Pas de la Mine and the Arête de Brouffier - an interesting knife-edge...

... to get to the summit. Yes, we made it. Yippee! These photos don't do justice to the exceptional views.

view SE towards Ecrins

My favourite: bird's eye view of Lac Fourchu ("forked lake"). The clouds came and went and it didn't feel particularly hot. Damn chilly, in fact. Classic conditions for major sunburn. I am now sporting beacon-red legs. How can that happen to someone my age?!

Looking SE down the Malsanne valley towards La Mure

Looking from the Arête de Brouffier to Beauregard and the Vercors

 After 10 years of procrastinating, we were very chuffed, and grateful, to have made the 1200m climb without being anything other than completely shattered. Awesome.