A trek to Fort St. Eynard

Yesterday, me and my friends went for a trek to Fort St. Eynard. I have been there in the winter when the mountain track was covered with snow and the trees and plants were devoid of leaves except for the coniferous ones . The trek is approximately 3 kms and takes close to one and half hours. This time the whole path was completely different. The trees had leaves and occasionally we could hear the birds chirping. The weather was sunny and pleasent. We started off at approximately quarter past nine. It took us close to one hour forty five minutes to reach the fort. This time the fort was open. It is closed in the winter hence the last time I went, I had to satisfy myself with a view of the closed door only. But walking on the snow was both fun and more dangerous. We had to hire raquettes to be able to walk on the foot high snow. In the winter it feels like walking on a white sheet of imense expanse. After we reached the fort we continued along the track and reached a small village. Along the way we enjoyed the view from the top of a sheer cliff. I have vertigo, so it was little scary for me but anyway it was a nice feeling. After walking for a while we sat down and had our lunch with pain au chocalat, juice, chips, fruits and croissant. It was a little picnic and off course a nice one on the edge of a sheer cliff. On the way we met few trekkers which was completely absent in the winter. The fact is that the trekking route is closed in the winter but when we went to tourism office to enquire about it they could not give us any information. Anyway the absence of information was boon in disguise. Near the village in the winter the mountain slopes become a paradise for skiers. Generally the trekking routes are marked. But sometimes the marks are put on a stone in the ground. So when we went in the winter we were kind of lost in the snow and finally landed up on the skiing slope where I guess walking must be prohibited. Anyway, the funny thing was that while crossing over to the skiing slope from the forrest my raquette got caught on the trip wire of one of the telepheriques meant for carrying the skiers up the slope. And the consequence the skiers were stranded for ten minutes without power. Well that was in the winter. Once we reached the village, we trekked for four kilometer to Cole de Vence along D512 where we had parked our car. Last time we took the bus back from the village to Grenoble since it was already dark and we did not have our vehicle like this time. Walking on this track both in deep winter and summer I have seen the two faces of the same place. I could not imagine the place which had nothing but snow all around could play host to a variety of flowers in the summer.