What canicule? Hiking in Belledonne

This summer we don’t get much good weather in France. Two saturdays ago it was raining, and although the sunday was not raining the view up in the mountain was not very good. We went to Grande Sure in Chartreusse but due to the contrast between sun and the remaining wet weather the mountains were covered with fogs.

So when they announced canicule – heat waves – in almost north-west side of France, we picked up our phone and dialed the refuge de la Pra in Belledonne mountains to see whether they got place to stay for this weekend. It was tuesday and they were fully booked already. It was expected.

Under the sky

French spring has been quite wet this year. Rain has been pouring almost every weekend and finding a good time to go to mountain has been difficult. When I was writing this story Paris was on yellow flood alert (just below red and orange), it feels like Jakarta.

So one of my personal project this year is to do an easy bivouac. Essentially a bivouac is to go to the mountain and sleep there. It can be as simple as a night under the sky with a sleeping bag or as many night as you wish according to your capacity.