Font d'Urle

Little behind in posting... je regrette. Here are pictures from last weekend's awesome excursion to Font d'Urle, a quaint refuge nestled in the Vercors mountains, about 90 minutes west of Grenoble. I went with a student association called IntEGre (International Etudiants de Grenoble) - for twenty euros we received transportation, lodging, food, hikes and two rousing scavenger hunts Sunday morning: the regularly planned one, and an unintended sequel for a lost glove and hat... both mine... and both lost at separate times. Embarrassing, indeed.

I took this picture during a rest-stop along the way. I have no idea how this road was built.


Looking in the opposite direction... it's a long way down!


Font d'Urle, the little mountain refuge village we stayed in. There was only a bit of snow on the ground so only a couple of the chalets were occupied.


After arriving, we dropped our bags off and started on a hike immediately. This cave was one of the first Cool Things we found!


A beautiful bush glazed with snow.


The light dusting of snow made the terrain look like the lunar surface!


Wooden post + Snow + Wind = Natural Sculpture


The views were absolutely breathtaking and enthralled me... leading to another Japanese tourist award.


I wanted to explore this little gap but was fearful of what lurked beyond the loose gravel.


We spotted all sorts of natural wonders, like this spectacular hole - you can see one opening out into the valley, but there was another larger one directly below it -- really quite fascinating!


My German friend Matthias flirts with death.


I flirt with death - and the end of the world.


We picked up the pace back to the refuge once visibility dropped to 25 meters.


An evening meal with Germans and Italians... fortunately we all spoke French.