Area: Vesubie, Maritime Alps
After a 28 year campaign, not that many major gaps remain for me in the Maritime Alps. Indeed, that rather desultory 'campaign' has been on something of a hiatus since doing Argentera (the range's highpoint) in 2013 with Vic. Apart from that, and the early ascent of Cime du Gelas (the French highpoint) with Tim and Stee in 1994, all my trips to the region have been solo. The mountains are generally non-technical, and therefore suit a solo approach. One of the big remaining gaps was Mont Neiglier, so after dropping the family off at the airport I headed up to the Madone de Fenetre on Sunday evening, arriving at the refuge fairly late. I had a room to myself, where I was woken by moonlight (a very bright full moon shining straight through the skylight). After breakfast, I set off just after 7am up the familiar path to the Baisse des Prals, seeing a chamois almost immediately. This was a perfect way to reacquaint myself with the beauty of these mountains: a stunning path that gradually reveals more of the range as it climbs through the typical Mercantour blend of rocks and trees. To the left, Mont Ponset, which I did in the early 2000s, a superficially impressive peak from this side, but simpler and less complex than Neiglier, its neighbour and today's target. My basic plan was to reach the Baisse des Cinque Lacs via the standard path then take stock and see if the route up Neiglier looked clear. At first, it didn't: the correct cwm was the usual chaotic jumble of 'clapier' boulders. Later, as I moved down towards the lakes I could see a clear small path leading below the very impressive Pointe St Andre ridge up into the cwm. Sadly all I knew was that the normal route takes an 'oblique gully' which heads up to the left, I had no further details and no topo. Still, it was so early that if I abandoned Neiglier plans the day would just have been too short, so I headed upwards. Half way up, the path disappeared in a boulder field but I saw a few small cairns leading up to a likely looking gully. At the base of it, however, it looked unlikely - I couldn't see the top and certainly didn't feel like committing to it. Round a rocky corner and more cairns led to another left-facing gully, so I took a look at that from below too! In some ways it looked feasible, but my mountain brain was again sending out warning signals, so with that I decided to abandon the attempt entirely and continue down to the Lacs des Prals through the boulder field. At the bottom of this, I saw a huge cairn, then another, and then saw a vague route leading up the screes to the very back of the cwm. From here, it did look possible that a left-slanting 'oblique gully' might provide the key to unlock the conundrum. In reality, it is barely a gully at all, more like a slanting series of slabby steps, and it was actually really enjoyable. After a brief slog up the scree, I gained the line and it was obvious - finally - that I was on route. Two little steps provide the only difficulty, and lead to solid slabs at the top which give way to a tiny breche and spectacular, sudden views. The walls plunge away on the far side, and Ponset, Gelas and St Robert all loom across the valley. From the col, about 100m of mild scrambling up the east ridge follows, weaving around to find the easiest line, slightly exposed in a couple of places before easy rocks gain the summit. Superb views in all directions, a stunning place to be, with the Grand Capelet particularly notable (done in the late 2000s). A few clouds blocked the valleys but generally the weather was sunny and fine. The descent was simple, including the slabby steps, although the lower cwm was very arduous, giant 'clapier' boulders typical of the range. I gained the beautiful cinq lacs with some relief and had a snack in an alpine meadow next to the largest lake (accompanied by a screaming marmot). After a short descent, I spied an obvious short cut up a moraine which gained a horizontal path easing progress up to the Baisse de Prals, a notable col and new territory for me. Then came the relaxing part of the day, along the gentler ridges stretching towards St Martin. First up was Cime de la Valette des Prals, a focal point of all of those ridges and a major Mercantour summit despite its low altitude and gentle aspect. A full frontal slog gained the summit, from which it was clear that the weather was on the turn over the higher peaks: threatening black clouds now draped Neiglier and the other high peaks, so my early start had proved extremely prudent (not for the first time). The threat of rain, or worse, did quicken my pace a bit - but the remaining gentle hills remained clear and have a completely different feel in any case. I left the main path to take in Pertus, another large but gentle hill, then contoured to just below Tete de la Lave before sticking to the main ridgeline (not the marked path) to take in Tete de Cinant at 2314m. This had a little coterie of ravens on the summit, and a griffon vulture flew past too. From here I took in a sharp unnamed second summit then dropped down to the Baisse des Ferisson, another major col, and decided to call it a day and descend to the Madone through beautiful woodland. At Lou Cavalon, where I could see the Madone, I stupidly took the left-hand branch of the path, which descended westwards towards the road. This added a fair bit to the day, with a tiring reascent of the road back up to the Madone: 1630m of climbing, close to 19k, well over four hours. I arrived at the Madone to find over a thousand people in attendance, and hundreds of cars, possibly for a funeral or wake. So I drove straight to St Martin to find my gite and have a pissaladiere under the trees: thunderstorm later on that day, followed by a great Nicois meal in one of the 'cave' restaurants.
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