Cime Ouest de Fenestre

Peaks: Cime Ouest de Fenestre (2662m)
Area: Maritime Alps, France
Severely pushed for time this morning, as I had to pick the family up from Nice airport at 10.15am! There was only one realistic option, and that was to run up one of the two little peaks above the Col de Fenestre. I left the hut just after 6am, knowing from previous experience that the path is superbly engineered and entirely runnable. Long zigzags lead gradually up to the Lac de Fenestre (just beyond the point I left the path when I did Cime St Robert last year). Slightly steeper ground led up the Col itself, the Italian border (39m from the hut). A vague path led up the ridge towards the Cime Ouest, before moving through a boulder field to an obvious gully. This was reminiscent of the gully on the normal route up Cime St Robert, and gives a steep but quick ascent to the bouldery summit. Some nice scrambling led over huge boulders along a final ridge to the true summit (55m from the hut). Good early morning views over to St Robert, Gelas, Ponset, and the impressive yet unheralded (not done by me anyway) Cime du Lombard. I picked my way back down to the Col, then ran back to the Madone in bang on 20 minutes. Ended up having time for a croissant in St Martin and a walk around Lantosque before the plane landed. Although this year's trip was very brief and not quite what I'd planned (marred by the after-effects of my bug) it was still a very enjoyable addition to the many memorable days I've spent in the Mercantour.