Grenoble / Massif de Belledone (Sept 5-6, 2025)
Next stop – the French Alps! This was the most difficult part of the trip to plan. To start, which part of the Alps? I settled with the Belledone Massif which is one of the more accessible mountain ranges. From the city of Grenoble, it can be just an hour by bus. During the off-season, the buses run much less frequently (just twice a day). Still, I could take a train and then a bus from Grenoble to Uriage (a larger town), where a van could drive us to Chamrousse (a ski resort ~1650m above sea level). Not too bad compared to getting to a mountain from Chicago…
The challenge was reserving the van. I tried reserving online before the trip but couldn’t figure out how to create a count. So I decided to call from the hotel landline once I reached Paris. After finally reaching an operator, however, I couldn’t understand what they were saying in French nor could they speak English. When the hotel receptionist tried, we were put on hold for too long. The receptionist couldn’t figure out how to create an online account either. So I asked Melissa. She reached out to her uncle in Grenoble, but he didn’t respond. Her mom tried to reserve with her online account, but it had expired. In the end, her grandma was able to reserve the van for us (amazingly technology proficient!) Lots of gratitude for Melissa and her family 💜💜💜 !!!
The plan was to hike from Recoin – Chamrousse 1650 to Refuge de La Pra and stay overnight at the refuge. It’s a 5.5 miles hike one way and usually takes 4-5 hour according to an email from Refuge de La Pra. It’s part of the Grand Route (aka well marked and well-tranversed) and Melissa did it in sneakers, so I figured it wouldn’t be too bad. Famous last words. Considering this was only my mom’s second time hiking (first time was 30 years ago in the Fuji mountains) and we initially took a wrong turn to a more dangerous path (Breche Sud), we only made it halfway after 5 hours.
I considered pushing through, but a kind passerby suggested that we stayed at the unguarded Refuge de Lac Robert instead. While there would not be running water and food as there would be at La Pra, we would avoid the risk of over-exhaustion for my mom, hiking in the dark, and being stuck overnight without shelter.
Although we didn’t make it to our intended destination, I still had lots of fun! Highlights include:
Mountain cows – I made sure they couldn’t see my pink shirt so thankfully they didn’t charge at me like they did in the Dolomites (Italy)
Wild blueberries along the way! I think there were two types?
Lots of exposed rocky areas. A bit adrenaline-inducing, but great views!
Little mountain streams and lakes!
We shared the refuge with Elena, Amoury, Valerie, and their cute dog Uma. We played some board games before dinner and bed. They also very generously provided us with some water. (We were running low since we expected to restock at Refuge de la Pra).
Sunset in the mountains (and sunrise not pictured). Priceless!
The route we took back down (Breche Nord) was less harsh. You could hear the birds chirping and the insects buzzing about.
Uma and friends joined us for part of it!
Loved the hike – it was just me, my mom, and the tranquility and awe-inspiring beauty of nature. I would definitely do it again, though maybe avoid Breche Sud.
Here’s the map in case you want to do the hike too!
We had hiked up on Friday and returned on Saturday. On Saturday, Recoin was bustling with activity – families were hiking and mountain biking.
They even repurposed ski lifts as bike lifts.
We had some down time before the bus so we indulged in a mountain meal at Le P’tit Sale
• Hachis parmentier – aka sheperds pie but they top it with cheese of course (similar to parmesan). Beef was super flavorful like the meat generally is here. Potatoes were a bit thicker than the typical Russet mashed potatoes.
• Gratin – potatoes, cream, shredded duck, st. morbier cheese. They sorta treat duck like chicken here. Couldn’t taste much duck flavor, mainly the cheesy funk (the funk was almost fishy??)
The buses are more regularly scheduled on the weekends so we were conveniently dropped of in the center of Grenoble.
Grenoble is a nature lover’s paradise. They are surrounded by not one but TWO mountain ranges. Everyone seemed to be in hiking or cycling gear. There are even these yellow bikes that the government provides everyone (I think).
I thought this sports equipment vending machine was pretty emblematic of the culture surrounding outdoor activities in Grenoble. There was gear for cycling, swimming, climbing, and probably others too!
Not that expensive either… jealous of the residents here… I’ll be back!
Comments
Post a Comment