French Alps. Hiking to lac de l'Etroit.
The Vanoise. French Alps. We walk from refuge du Rosuel to Les Lanches and climb through Les Grandes Baraques to the 'Lac de l'Etroit' and then descend to the 'Pont Romano'.
We leave from our refuge Rosuel and walk down the flowering meadows for a change. Now is the time to enjoy the white birch claw, the yellow big rattler, the esparcette and the pink viper root. Also the black rapunzel and of course the morning star, how could it be otherwise, is flowering yellow in the morning.
Larch forests and Martagonlily
At Les Lanches via an abandoned lead and silver mine we climb into the slope forest. We are here at 1524 meters and want to go to a lake Lac de l'Etroit at 2166 meters. The larch forests here are of an enchanting beauty and they conceal a special vegetation. The rod, but also the herb, liver flower and beetle orchis can be found here. Higher in the slope, martagonlily, dark columbine and boxwood wing flower bloom. Even higher and more humid grows massively Adenostyles, a sturdy plant with a cooling leaf. I call it sweat leaf because it serves as a refreshing sweat cloth for me, others call the plant the bald glandular style. Yes, that's what you get when an alien plant doesn't have an official Dutch name. We then come up with a name ourselves during the steadily stiff rise.
Meanwhile we arrived at Les Grandes Baraques at 1992 meters just past the tree line and thus back in the mountain meadows. The weather is very variable, overcast and windy. A little more climbing and we'll get to the lake. We're at altitude, looking 600 meters down at Nancroix. Picnic by the lake is a matter of course, the bread and the beaufort cheese as well.
The water in the lake is very high, because both the St. John's wort and the kratzthistle are in the water and that is certainly not their natural biotope. On the other side of the lake it is better not to sit, where the boulders of the Pointe de Friolin roll down.
