Criou Conquered!
After almost 7 years of admiring the Montagne des Criou from the chalet and being asked by numerous guests as to whether we’d ever hiked up we eventually plucked up the courage to scale the 1490m of ascent to the peak at over 2201m in some 3.5 hours!
We took a much needed coffee stop at Les Chalets du Trot (1400m) where in the summer months one of the farmers operates the “Criouly”, a simple alpage restaurant. These chalets sit in amongst the upper alpine pastures of the Criou which are still used in the summer months for the grazing of cattle and goats.
The hike from the chalets to the top it not for the faint hearted as the last half hour from the Tête de Barme to the summit hugs the ridge of the Criou, but the views that await those brave enough are truly magnificent. The panorama includes the Giffre Valley, Mont Blanc, Mont Buet, the Tour Sallière, the Pointe Rousse des Chambers and the Dents Blanches.
We stopped for a picnic lunch in the sun and toasted our efforts with a decent slug of Single Malt to stiffen our resolve for the return journey!
Knees were a bit sore by the time we had descended the 1500m back to the car!!
