Feels like winter! :)

Here are a couple of pics of a tramp to "Lac Blanc", nearby Chamonix. I really like this season: nobody in the mountains, plenty of animals to be seen, and some nice autumn light... When you have the chance to have a sunny weather! That wasn't than the case this Saturday, as it was the first snow... Look at these cute but poor chamois and ibexes, grabbing all the green grass they could before winter. I luckily saw one of the rare mountain black grouse as well, but it flew away when I was taking my camera of the bag.

My brand new little niece! :)

Here is the second one, a girl this time, 4.5kgs... Her name is Aimee, and Armand is very jealous of her cos she has plenty of hair! Actually, that's not true, and he was rather curious of his little sister. And he is still that active, and tireless! He managed to slide up and down 3 meters of stairs 2 weeks before Aimee came... With hospital and stuff... Dunno how Fanny (my sister) will manage the two of them! :S

Climbing week, south of France

I was on holidays last week, and we went down south with Frenchy. Oliver was supposed to join, but changed his plans at the last minutes due to a few meters of worm...

We started by the world famous Verdon gorges. It was my second trip there, so I knew what it was gonna be like... Julien realized his dream by climbing there, but realized as well how tough the climbing is in the gorge: very sustained routes, some air between the bolts, tough grades... Definitely not what bouldering trains! But well, you have to deserve the great exposure, the fantastic view, and the large vultures flying around!

Afterwards, we went to Annot for a day, were Frenchy could do some nice bouldering/sleeping in the hammock, or sleeping/bouldering maybe... On my side, I went for a walk, and found some mushrooms, in particular I found some the best bolets, called "Cèpe Bronzés" ("tanned bolets" in english). That was yummy! Then it was time to move northward and to catch up with Stephanie for some nice climbing around Presles. We visited different crags, and found some really nice climbs... And managed to get very tired as the end!

The bests of the week:
- the campground owner in La Palud sur Verdon. He was such a typical and loud French guy: some people in a van were driving very slowly to find a spot in the campground. After 10 seconds, he got pissed off as he was following them with his 4*4, passed them like crazy shouting at them "fucking idiots, I'll teach you how to drive". What a nice way to welcome customers! :D
- Oliver's worm... Sorry to make fun of that, but it is easy when it is not you...
- the viper at the bottom of one crag... I wasn't very happy with my jandals! ;o)
- the annoying and loudly laughing Germans from the campground
- the nice but annoying Germans who were putting chalk ticks everywhere on the climbs.. How can you onsight something after that???
- a not so friendly cat, which almost ripped my hand off while I was just trying to caress him
- the extreme bad luck when we tried to do some mountain biking in Verdon, where Julien had more than 5 holes in his tire after 3 kms of biking. The worst was that even the brand new tube the rental lady gave us was as well flat...

Here are some pics, on the countersy of Julien: