10 Attachment(s)
Vosges (France) in December
Fellow hangers,
in december, I made a little trip to the Vosges, a small mountain range in Eastern France. I want to share my experience.
Saturday, December 17th 2017
07.00: arrival via train from Neustadt/Weinstraße to Colmar, then took a bus to Lapoutroie
12.45: ascent to Lac Blanc via Tęte le Faux and Tęte des Immerlins (7 miles, climb 3000 ft); one short break
16.30: campsite at Lac Blanc
The ascent was fast, sometimes quite steep and exhausting. Good workout. The night was clear and I slept without tarp. Temperatures dropped to 28°F. As I did not use my vapor barrier and humidity was quite high, I had some condensation on the outer shell of my top quilt in the morning. But my setup was good for a low of 15°F, so that did not bother me. Enough reserves.
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Sunday, December 18th 2017
08.00: breakfast, then heading towards Vosges main ridge, except for some short detour always following the GR5 trail (12.5 miles, climb 2300 ft); two breaks á 30 minutes
16.30: campsite at Lac de Schiessrothried
A wonderfull, sunny day. Clouds filled the Upper Rhine Plain, marvellous views. The highest point was Le Hohneck at 4,472 ft. The night was quite different than the first one, lots of fog. Temps were again at 28°F, in the morning I had a thick layer of ice on my tarp. Slept fine. This time with VB, so no further condensation in my insulation.
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Monday, december 19th 2017
08.00: breakfast, short detour to a nearby overlook and descent to Metzeral (5.6 miles)
12.00: home by train
16.15: back in Neustadt
The track of the hike is here, if someone is interested.
Altogether, it was a great trip. Strongly recommended!
Happy New Year,
Roland
