July 2019 - Ascent from Cret du Loup. I arrived yesterday in La Clusaz set amidst the Aravis range of the French Prealps in Haute-Savoie. A gentler ascent to start as the weather isn’t great until Monday. Just as well actually as I was blowing with the altitude and this and tomorrow’s ascent will be useful acclimatization. I took the chairlift from La Clusaz up to Cret du Loup at an altitude of 1800m. From there, it is a relatively short but steep ascent to Auguille des Calvaires. By this time the cloud had come in as forecast, so I explored the ridge higher up from the col near summit. It ended in an abrupt 50m cliff, so I returned to the summit and had lunch. I stayed up there for an hour before distant rumblings of thunder triggered the descent to Cret du Merle.