4 p.m. at Plan de la Lai, in the Beaufortain. Fanny and Antoine have tucked the Visorando route into their pocket, but Antoine is mostly leading the way: a climbing enthusiast and nurse in Bourg-Saint-Maurice, he suggested this lookout to watch the light shift over Lake Roselend. Valentin Barrette follows along, camera in hand, for a simple outing with friends from the valley.

The trail starts through short grass and climbs straight up. As she prepares for the Petit Saint-Bernard trail race, Fanny sets the pace without pushing herself. Having arrived from Annecy for the winter season, she doesn’t yet know this stretch of ridge that Antoine, a Vosgian expatriate like Valentin, regularly explores between shifts. 

Below, the Cormet road winds between the alpine chalets. Fanny leaves her teal TETRAS jacket open over a light-colored sweatshirt: the air is mild for this altitude, but the wind that gives the rock its name is already beginning to sweep across the valley.

At the foot of the cliff, Antoine takes out his phone. It’s a little after 6 p.m., and the Visorando map shows Lake Roselend on one side, Lake Gittaz on the other, and a small blue dot between them, right next to the rock face. He zooms in and shows the rest of the route, and Fanny leans over his shoulder.

Then the trail changes character. You place your hands on the limestone, grab a cable for a few meters, and step over a boulder. The PTARMIGAN2 pants, with ripstop reinforcements in exposed areas, brush against the rock without a care. Antoine has pulled up the collar of his thyme-green TETRAS jacket. It’s a waterproof three-layer jacket made from recycled polyester and assembled in Poland, designed for this kind of stretch, where the wind comes from every direction at once.

At over 2,300 meters, the rock abruptly opens onto the void. Lake Roselend stretches out below in an emerald hue, streaked by the last rays piercing the cloud cover. 

Antoine climbs onto the rocky spur he knows by heart, his dark silhouette framed against the peaks. The water bottle passes from hand to hand. No frills or stopwatch: just the golden light of a shared day’s end at the summit.

The sky turns pink as the trio heads back toward the pass between the limestone slabs. Fanny pulls on her GEBO beanie to ward off the noticeably colder air, while Antoine keeps his SOWA cap on. In a gap in the rocks, their silhouettes stand out against the pale ridges of the Beaufortain. 

Below, the moon is already watching over the orange-hued peaks. All that remains is to head down to Bourg-Saint-Maurice and end the evening with porcini fondue.

To prepare for your own outing, the hiking collection brings together the layers worn that evening, and our guide to choosing a hiking jacket helps you decide between a hardshell, softshell, and windbreaker.