Day 1 - Arrive and First Day Tracking
We will either collect you from Gap train station or meet you directly at your hotel if you made your own way here yesterday.
We will have breakfast together and Bernard will talk through recent wolf activity and go through a plan for the next few days. After breakfast, we'll prepare our sacks and then off we go!
As we will have quite heavy packs, our first objective is to get to the refuge where we can drop off overnight kit and food, so we have a light day pack to spend the rest of the day with.
We will be watching out for any signs on the way, and if we find anything we may well return. If not, or if we deduce that the tracks have gone in a certain direction (there are certain known patrolling routes!!) we'll continue on after the refuge covering a route that criss crosses the popular wolf routes to see what we can find.
Walking is likely to be ‘off piste’ in a wild, all terrain environment but wolves do tend to follow the paths of least resistance so there will be some respite on easy tracks and paths to break up the technical parts.
We will be looking at the signs of all the different animals; chamois, wild boar, mouflon and deer, living in the wolves' territory. You will learn how to identify and interpret their prints - whether they are fresh or old, running, walking or ambling, you'll see what food they eat, discover their favourite places, where they drink, their dens..... all useful information to help locate and understand the wolves.
If we find fresh wolf prints our route will be determined and we'll follow their tracks and interpret their behaviour along the way... do they separate to hunt, are they running or slowly patrolling their territory, do they play or rest, what are they looking for and where are they going? Have they recently hunted and eaten or are they hungry in search of prey.... ?
By the end of the day you will have a really good insight into the behaviour of the wolves and mountain wildlife as they eat, sleep, mate and carry out their lives under the threat of their biggest predators.
After making sure we have enough water and firewood for the night we'll patrol around the refuge to see if we can see any signs - the evening is also the time of day for wild boar to start moving about.
Throughout the evening we'll go out to see if any visitors have passed by and also to try and get a response from the wolves by howling.
Being in the wilds of the Alps under the stars and moonlight listening to the sounds of wildlife at night is a truly special experience. If you are lucky enough to hear the wolves howling, it is a sound that you will never ever forget!
We'll cook dinner together and warm ourselves by the fire before settling into our sleeping bags - it's a fun evening! If you have never staying in a winter refuge in the Alps before it is likely to be an experience you'll keep in your memory bank for life!
We will also place an infrared, movement triggered camera overnight so you can see who came to visit you whilst you were fast asleep!
