We started the day with some breakfast at the Auberge and even decided to prepare some of our lunch too in order to avoid carrying our kitchenette with us to the mountain.
As we were packing Ben checked the weather report and it turned out there would be both rain and thunder around our planned via ferrata. Indeed the weather would be bad in most of the eastern Hautes Alpes. So we quickly found other areas to visit. We decided to head west, towards Grenoble. Just west of Villar d'Arene we passed a large dam area and stopped in the warm sunshine to take some pictures.
On the way to our final destination we passed a via ferrata that was closed due to rock fall or the likes. That one was situated in Grenoble city. Instead we headed a bit north from there and ended up in La Terrasse, Crolles, in the area of Isère, west of the Hautes Alpes.
From the valley below we took a serpentine road up to the village. As the name suggests, the village is a terrace platform above a huge vertical mountain wall. The approach to the via ferrata went downwards from the village to the wall below - usually we have to climb up to reach the start. We started on a ledge from where a lot of paragliders and hang gliders were running off the cliff. That's what it actually looked like, at least for the hang gliders, they just jumped off a ledge with a several hundred meter drop just below. This particular man tripped on his steering wire and more or less fell off the ramp.
We were prepared for an hour long approach to the via ferrata, but actually ended up taking the wrong path and thus did a short cut through some rough bushes ;)
We found a railway up the mountainside and after a while a rail cart passed the spot where the ferrata began by traversing the rail on a thin, wobbly bridge. The weather was warm and humid up in that mountain. Warmer than we expected.
There were two alternatives for ferrata and we ended up at the start of a blue ferrata path, La Vire des Lavandières. It started by going downward and on the way we met some french teenagers going the other way. They seemed quite exhausted. This blue path crossed a waterfall and as the name implies it is a bit wet (the turn of the washerwomen (google translate)).
We had lunch beside the water and enjoyed the fabulous view and all the paragliders.
The other path, a red one, Le Grand Dièdre (The great dihedral) (graded extremely difficult), was the harder of the two. In the end it didn't matter as the two paths crossed. The initial plan was to take the red one from the start, but we found out that the "extremely difficult" part began after the crossing. There was actually a sign warning climbers of the difficulty and underlining the need of strength and head for heights.
The path started easily enough though, but just as warned we reached a spot with somewhat of an overhang. It was the most difficult part of the path and I myself wouldn't have been able to cross on my own, especially wearing a backpack. Ben helped out with my sling and quick draw so that I could rest my underarms for a bit on the way. After having survived that part it became easier, although there were a couple of places with very slight overhangs, but nothing as strenuous, although my boot did slip on the rock once leaving me hanging on a metal handhold. ;)
There were two ledges with wires which probably serve as resting spots with a view. At some places we were walking on a cliff ledge with severe, vertical cracks and couldn't help wondering how long those would be holding. A good winter storm or such could break those ledges.
The ferrata was not long, but a large portion of it went at a vertical angle. We ended up spending three hours on our climb. Lunch included.
It felt good not having to descend all the way to get back to the car, but actually just climbing up paft of the trail we had come down earlier. It was warm and humid and sweat was dripping as we reached the car.
On the way back to Villar-d'Arene we stopped for a coffee at Le Freney-d'Oisans, close to our town.
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