Montagne de Sous-Dine (2004 m)

Yet another snowshoe hike this winter (however I need to chose higher and higher peaks in order to have snow) - Montagne de Sous-Dine (2004 m.). I set off with a colleague around midday, first through the forest with little snow (definitely not enough to put the snowshoes on). Surprisingly, there were little people on the route so we could enjoy the wilderness of the paths. Montagne de Sous-Dine is situated on a plateau, which makes it possible to reach it with many different routes.
When we got out of the forest we saw beautiful fields of snow, either untouched or paved with different prints (animals, skiers, hikers etc.).

At some point we were able to see an already breath-taking panorama of the surrounding mountains, nevertheless it was still far from our final destinations so we continued on hiking up to the cross which is situated 8 metres below the peak.

 

We spent some time by the cross, admiring the view on the Alps and Mt Blanc (fortunately it was a perfectly clear day). The actual top of Sous-Dine was situated just a couple of meters ahead and to me looked pretty... mighty. I was even a bit afraid to approach it because you never know what might happen with snow caps like that. But in the end we decided to go back by a different route and we needed to pass by the peak anyway.

An ominously looking peak of Sous-Dine (Mt Blanc in the background):

Our way down was much more fun and off-road than the one up. Some of the parts were really steep, but whoever did snowshoeing knows that it can be a real fun running down the hill in a fresh snow with racquettes on. And it was for us too! We were not so sure about the route so we just followed someone else's footprint. Having lost our way just once, we came back to the car. It's a pity we didn't find Trou de la Pierre passage - a footway that goes through the rock (looks like a whole in the stone). Well, at least I will have a motivation to come back here in summer.