Most countries in the world have a sugar loaf mountain. Britain has one in Wales, near Abergavenney. France’s sugar loaf (or one of them, at least) is in the French Alps, off the Tre la Tete glacier.
It’s an ill-frequented part of the range compared to the mountains in the Chamonix valley, mainly because there are no cable cars.
If you want to climb a mountain from the Tre la Tete you have to walk all the way from the valley floor – up through lush vegatation, into alpine meadows and past the lunar landscape of the glacier’s snout.
It’s a wonderful place with few, if any, people out of season and to climb there feels like a real mountain journey.
The Pain de Sucre is a subsidiary peak, which you pass on the way to Mont Tondu, but its view over the range is nonetheless spectacular.
I’m away for a few days, but will be back next week.