Lac des Chéserys : Hiking in the French Alps amidst a thunderstorm and Spotting the mystical Mountain Ibex

July 2024 : Me and my brother decided to hike the Alps during the weekend. Goal was to reach Lac Cheserys which was a beautiful alpine lake nestled in the French Alps. The plan was clear. Leave on Friday evening after work and return on Sunday evening so that we could be back to work on Monday . As planned, We rented a car in Paris and started driving at around 7 PM on Friday. Leaving on Friday obviously gave us a headstart as it was a long 6,5 hour drive to Chamonix. We drove halfway and then made a halt in Mâcon to spend the night . It was an old woman's house. She had gone to sleep by the time we reached which was about midnight. But looked like she instructed her cat to receive us . But he was more focused on his late dinner and didn't seem to care about two strangers entering the house at odd hours.

We got up early around 7 the next morning as we had to drive the remaining half of the distance and ofcourse a big hike was awaiting us with totally unexpected surprises. The owner woke up before us and greeted us with a warm smile. We chatted a bit and knowing that we were about to leave, she was kind enough to offer us a few apples . We had no clue on the important role these apples were going to play in the next few hours

It was the first time for my brother going on such a trip especially seeing snow-clad mountains as gorgeous as the Alps. As we were nearing Chamonix, the landscape started transforming and the Alps started revealing themselves . They were gorgeous and glistening in the early morning sunlight as if they had just woken up from bed. The drive was absolutely scenic.

We had a quick breakfast at a gas station and proceeded towards the mountains. Until here, the weather was normal with no signs of what was about to come. As we drove through Chamonix town , the weather started deteriorating and by the time we finally reached the base point for our hike, the weather had worsened much further. I had a quick check on my phone and there were potential thunderstorm and hailstone warnings in the area where we were supposed to go. The starting point was a mountain pass called Col Des Montets in the Aiguilles Rouges Nature reserve at an altitude of 1460 meters. Lac Cheserys was approx. 2200 to 2400 meters in altitude. So , we were looking at a 1000 meter ascent (about 3200 feet)

A decision of Go or No-go had to be made considering the weather risks and the fact that we had no sophisticated hiking equipment except decent shoes and a big backpack. On top of this, We were not pro- climbers. If one is in decent shape, this hike can be done in 5 hours when weather is good. But in such unfavorable conditions, everything was unpredictable. Nevertheless, we decided to take the challenge and proceed with the hike.

The initial part of the ascent was very steep with a significant incline gradient combined with rugged terrain. I was carrying the big backpack and had a much harder time with this additional weight compared to my brother who was busy climbing with hands in his pockets. I stopped several times to catch my breath. But after a while, my body caught the rhythm and my heart was getting more comfortable in doing the extra work that it wasn't used to

Our destination : Lac des Chéserys

Mountain Ibex spotted near the lake

My Brother

The French Alps range

Our narrow descent trail

Mountain Ibex with massive horns spotted during our descent

The snow-clad mountains covered in heavy mist

However, the weather still didn't seem to improve. It was very foggy and trail was engulfed by heavy mist. The heavy rain and hail added further to the complications. We saw a few other trekkers descending . I think we both were the only ones who were stupid enough to be climbing instead of descending in such a weather. Amidst all of this, my focus was on spotting the Mountain ibex (called " Bouquetin '' in French). The males were particularly intimidating with their big horns and muscular structure. I was asking the descending hikers if they had seen some during their climb but most of them replied that they hadn't seen any and weren't confident to spot one in this bad weather. One of them said he had seen a herd the night before but no recent activities. My confidence to spot one started to gradually wear off but their scat along the trail kept my hopes still alive. And some of them were quite fresh I must say.

In retrospect, we have no clue how we traversed through this terrain battling the heavy rain. As you can see in the photos and videos , it was a treacherous path for us. But that being said , it was an absolute breathtaking setting. The mountain side was covered in flower blossoms and we were surrounded by the magnificent Alps on all sides. The mist was gently caressing the mountain peaks on our right. The mountain range to our left was almost fully covered in mist that we could see only a few patches of the snow clad mountains. As we climbed further , my brother suddenly shouted " Did you see that ? " He was referring to an ibex with horns on our left towards the cliff edge but by the time I could spot it, it was gone in a fraction of seconds. It was a big disappointment especially the fact that my brother saw it and not me.

A bit later in the trail, We noticed there was a small patch of snow on a mountain side to our right . Seeing snow in such close proximity was the first time for my brother and obviously he insisted that we go touch it. We had to cross a small stream and climb over a few rocks to reach there but we did it anyways.

At this point, we burnt so much calories that hunger started setting in quick. That's when the apples the Airbnb lady gave us came in handy. When we had our first bite, it was literally the best apple we had ever tasted in our lives. It was so sweet and each bite was a bliss maybe due to the fact that we were starving literally.We finally reached our destination - the mountain Lake. I couldn't take my eyes off it when I first saw it. It was just out of this world. Moreover, we had the whole lake all to ourselves as there was no one around.

We were sitting on a small cliff to relax a bit and after a good 5 minutes, I noticed there was a movement suddenly to my left. I turned my head and saw a group of Ibex appearing through the mist. It was such an ecstatic feeling to see them so close and they gently passed us giving some curious looks. Later, We descended towards the lake and the rocks were pretty sharp and slippery. We spent about half an hour just observing it's beauty and then started to descend as it was already late. We had to descend before it gets dark as we didn't have any power torch and the path would become more dangerous to traverse after sunset

Fortunately, we descended to the safe zone before sunset and just before reaching base point, we spotted another male ibex with massive horns. He was a big boy and we tried to get as close as possible without alarming him. After observing his majesty for a while, we continued descending and finally reached the parking lot.

We were so hungry that we rushed towards an Indian restaurant as soon as we got into the car and devoured 2 x thalis in record time. And ofcourse, we reached Paris on Sunday night and were back in office Monday morning