Lac de Puy Vachier: La Grave

La Meije (3984 m.), seen from Gare de Peyrod d’Amont (2414 m.)

La Grave (1400 m.), seen from Gare de Peyrod d’Amont (2414 m.)

Stepping out from the cable car at 2414 m., the air is cool from the breeze down from the glaciers of La Meije (3984 m.) towering immediately above. I chose a track roughly contouring across the Côte Fine leading to the Lac de Puy Vachier. Dramatic views of the valley and the now-dry mountains opposite across the valley of the Romanche, the river a vertical kilometre below. The geology is impressive. Walking the path, the chilly glaciers above become hidden by cliffs, leaving the thrill of the views down or along the valley and the magnificent diversity of the Alpine flowers.

I took my picnic on a crag below the Refuge Evariste Chancel (2508 m.) with a fine view of the valley, including the village of La Grave and (with the long lens) even my car, parked opposite the hotel.
Return by the same path, and probably in the steps also of composer Olivier Messiaen, who dreamt of a performance on this high plateau of his suite for wind and percussion Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum (And I await the resurrection of the dead); this was first achieved in 2015, posthumously. Some music to look up later.
Fine view after dinner in the hotel of the last of the sun as the peaks turned red.