Climbing

  • La Saume
  • Climbing at Mont Dauphin
  • Single pitch Grand Bois
  • Ailefroide
  • Fressiniere multipitch

In the gite your surrounded by the most beautiful crags in the world. If you look out the window you can literally see the climbers on Mont Dauphin. Mont Dauphin has perfect conglomerate and it's possible to climb all year round. On the opposite site there is another amazing conglomerate climbing area, called ' Rue des Masques' . Because the area stays cool it's perfect for the summer.

In the the Durance Valley there are over 280 days of summer a year, which gives you a lot of dry rock to climb on. There is not only conglomerate to climb, but also limestone, granite, quartzite, gabbro and gneiss. You can find crags in different orientations and at different altitudes from 800m to 2500m above sea level. In the summer it's no problem to find cool shady crags. Whether you just started climbing, climb hard graded sport routes, like bouldering, prefer long multipitches, or love alpine climbing, there is something to climb for everybody. There are approximately 1500 sportclimbing routes, graded from 3+ to 9a, divided over many different crags. The multipitch routes are up to 600 metres long. Over all the quality of the rock is perfect and the routes are well bolted, especially for beginners. At Ailefroide there is an amazing granite bouldering area, surrounded by snow-capped peaks and magnificient glaciers. The rugged peaks in turn attract many alpine climbers. Not without reason, because it's the second biggest French mountaineering area after Chamonix, with the advantage of generally having better weather.

For sportclimbing I can recommend buying the topo ' Briançon Climbs', which is also written in english. It describes both single pitch and multi pitch routes. This topo is available at the gite to look into.

Just for multipitching you can buy the topo 'Oisans Nouveau'.

There are lots of shops who sell guide books. Close to chalet, in Guillestre, it's possible to buy them at the bookshop called ' Librairie L'Echo des mots' and the sport shop called 'Loutousport'.