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COL de BISE
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Southeast along the ridge from Col de Bise [229 Kb]
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It was Thursday, 11 September 2003, a holiday in Geneva,
so we decided we'd get out of the city for some fresh air.
The weather was socked in at Lake Geneva, but we hoped
we could get above it by driving into France's Haute-Savoie
region immediately south of the lake.
There was a light drizzle when we arrived at the Chalets de Bise,
elevation 1502 meters, so we ate our lunch in the car while waiting
for the sun.
The Chalets de Bise can be crowded on sunny weekend days, serving
as a trail head for a number of popular hikes. The 2432 meter
summit of Cornettes de Bise, which I walked up a few years earlier
from the other side, is just 1.5 kilometers east of here.
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Looking down toward Chalets de Bise [275 Kb]
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We never did get the sun, but it dried up
sufficiently for us to get underway toward the Col de Bise,
a two kilometer walk up through attractive pastures.
It continued to rain intermittently, which made the trail
very muddy. About midway up, Fiona decided to stop and watch a
shepherd with his sheep and sheepdog while I continued to the col.
For a brief moment after attaining the 1916 meter col, I
had a great view down to Lake Geneva. That view unfortunately
became engulfed in cloud before I could get my camera out.
I started back down after shooting a few pictures, slipping
twice onto my backside in the limestone muck. I was
thoroughly caked in mud by the time we got back down to
the car.
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Lake Geneva [343 Kb]
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I returned to the Col de Bise on June 18 2006 in sunnier conditions, at
least that's the way it started out. I had intended to hike to the
col, have lunch, then traverse the Tête de Charousse to
La Dent du Velan before descending back to the Chalets de Bise,
thus completing a potentially interesting loop walk.
The weather however once again foiled my plans.
Although the walk had started under clear skies, the weather started
to close in by the time I had finished my lunch. After weighing my
options I decided that I didn't really want to be stuck on steep
and slippery grassy slopes if it started to rain. This was a
fortunate decision -- by the time I had descended halfway to
the Chalets de Bise I was in the midst of a fully developed electrical
storm and torential downpour. My poncho kept me dry, and I had by then
passed all the steep sections so there was no repeat of my slipping in the
muck as in my last encounter here.
Other stuff:
Other pictures
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