Description

The Refuge du Roc de la Pêche gives a very comfortable start to the circuit of the Vanoise with an easy mellow approach.

It can make a good warm up day with plenty of time to practice avalanche rescue or crevasse rescue skills.

Considering the Vanoise has the biggest and busiest ski resorts in the world close by it has a very wild feel about it.

Further into the tour your team may be the only one leaving the hut and the decisions that day will all be yours to make.

Opportunities to spot wildlife are plentiful and you may be lucky enough to see chamois, marmot and the gypaète barbu (bearded vulture).

Carefully consider the weather before setting off, it is fairly straightforward skinning to the Roc de la Pêche in poor visibility, but for the rest of the tour good weather and a very stable snowpack are needed.

The kit listed assumes that you are doing the circuit as opposed to just going to the hut. Where you park and start from will depend on the time of year and whether the road is clear.

Assuming the road is closed, skin from Pralognan-la-Vanoise through the ski de fond area and cross the river at the Pont de Gerlon.

Now continue up the east side of the valley as the other side is prone to avalanches from large slopes above.

Further up you will need to cross the river again to reach the hut itself.

Try not to get sidetracked by the jacuzzi in the hut! There are four superb days in the wilds of the Vanoise to come.