Full moon walk in the snow

What do most people do after your typical day at work ? They tend to go home, watch telly, read a book, spend time with their loved once, you know the works. Normally, that's what I would do too - but on this particular day I had the crazy idea to join my colleagues for a moonlight walk at L'Audibergue, a ski station "near to work". Near to work being a 1 1/2 hour drive.

So, we eventually arrived at about 8 PM, ready to start our ambitious hike (there were actually quite a few of us crazies, about 20 in total). There was great hope to see the full moon, as the weather forecast promised a clear sky. So off we set then, heading up the pitch dark ski slope up from the parking. I was rather happy to have my rather powerful frontal lamp (unlike some poor unprepared souls who ventured out without lamp).

An hour or so of rather steady walking up the snowy slopes, we arrived at the summit. The moon ? Nowhere to be seen ? In fact, there was pretty much nothing to be seen, as the summit was shrouded in mist. Oh, well... Thanks god people had brough rhum, home distilled eau de vie, vin chaud and so forth... It truly warmed our spirits.

Not to be let down by the lack of moon, led by Jerome on his skis, we decided to carry on even higher up, following a ridge (being damn careful not to fall off the ridge!) up to another little summit, where once again we could see no moon. Actually, I lie, after waiting for about 15 minutes, the clouds did part for a bit, and we did see a bit of the moon - or a rather nice visual effect, at the very least.

The hike down was rather atmospheric, as we hiked along footpaths in woods. Actually, all sarcastic comments about missing moon and so forth, we had a very nice evening hiking in the snow. Great way to get to know my new colleagues as well. In fact, I would be happy to try a moonlight hike again one day - perhaps during the summer next time?