Got onto a lovely woodland footpath that led me to Mont d'Arbois. I was surprised to find about 10 people there. Walked down a wide path to la Tante, then climbed a bit up to Mont Joux, la Croix du Christ and the Pavilion du Mont Joly. Here the wide track ended and there was a choice of rough paths up the hillside towards Mont Joly. I took the lower one, which was a mistake, as stretches were covered in snow and the areas in between were wet and muddy. It was very steep in places and hard going. Eventually the path disappeared and I made my way up the line of the ski-lift to a point about 200m from the summit.
That final bit was steep and snow covered. My boots weren't made for snow and I had no walking poles which made the going lethal. Reluctantly decided to turn back. There was no point in killing myself on Monday, when I was there for the whole week. Coming down was just as difficult as I would either slide on the snow or go through it up to my knees and there was no way to anticipate the outcome of each step. Finally got past the snow and found an easier route down to the 'Pavilion', over a muddy scree slope. Walked back as far as Mont Joux, then took a farm track down towards Megève.
