The first hike we select should be not very tough – 650m ascend to tha Lacroix pass. It is not warm in the morning still sun shines brightly and not a single cloud at the sight. Will be hot.
The track starts from the La Monta village at the hight of 1700m. La Monta is some 5km drive from Abries by the river Le Guil uphill. We cross Le Guil by the bridge and follow the path by the stream uphill to the next village l’Echalp.
Here we cross Le Guil again and by the church ascend by moderately steep path through larch tree forest. At about 2.2km hight the forest ends and soon we are at the Italian border on the Lacroix pass.
Following the instructions we proceed a little bit on the Italian side of the path. Here to our sights on the right appear mountain summits including the highest mountain of the region Mont Viso. The sight is not for long though because the Italian fog comes and covers everything.
So we return to the pass and follow the path near the border to the South. After the tough (it is the first day though) we are on the top of the 2675m pic Praroussin.
We return by the same path to the Lacroix and then to La Monta village. At the end of the day the “not very tough” part of our plan somehow has failed 🙂 The height difference is about 1100m.