I had nothing planned for this NYE, with most of my friends returning from our remote hometown of Raon l’Etape to their bigger cities and multiple party options. I was already dreading a comfortable, yet very boring eve made of TV watching with my parents… To my surprise, I got a call from my good mate Mathieu at 5 PM, who proposed to spend NYE in an uncommon location: a refuge chalet in the Vosges Mountains.

3 hours later, we jumped in our cars for a 40 minutes of frozen drive up to the mountain pass, where we parked. We wore our boots, warm garments, hats, and grabbed our backpacks packed with food & (mostly alcoholic) beverages, lights and headlamps, and even sleeping bags for some.

After 50 minutes of a sweaty night walk up the mountain, in a gradually increasing amount of snow (up to 50 cm at the top), we reached the small wooden refuge, open and ready to host us for a good night.

The Abri de la Cantine au Roitelet (in the summer and without snow…)

We made fire in the chimney to bring the temperature from 5 deg Celsius to a more bearable 15 degrees, and started eating our basic meals that tastes like a 5 star fine dining in this context: crisps, foie gras, pate, sausages, and washed it all with a nice sequence of beer, wine and champagne.

A pleasure that only countrysides can offer, and a brilliant, impromptu night of camaraderie.
Thanks Mat.

Next: See my trial for Week #2, or choose from the list of my #52Weeks52Trials challenge