Guides and Trips in France
Trips
Coste Noundy
Chateauroux -les-Alpes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
Back-country skiing | 3.6 miles
Back-country skiing | 3.6 miles
I can see this ski tour out of the kitchen window and my office window so it has been drawing me towards it for some time now. I had a go at it last year but the road was snowed in far down the valley and I didn’t allow myself enough time. Today the road was OK and I managed to get all the way up to the summer car park at...
Pic des Chalanches
Chalets de l'Alpe, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
Back-country skiing | 5.5 miles
Back-country skiing | 5.5 miles
Pic de Chalanches is a great early season tour when the conditions are right, and today they were right. Later on in the season the skiing can be as good, but the approach is much longer and harder as the road from Villard up to lac de l’Orceyrette will be blocked with snow adding some 800m of climbing and 9km of distance on.We got up there early this morning so that we...
Lac du Distroit is up at 2519m altitude at the southern tip of the Ecrins National Park. This walk starts from the trailhead in the Rabioux valley above Chateauroux les Alpes. The path climbs up from the valley floor on the south facing slopes under the steep slopes of the Chabreyret ridgeline. There is a marked contrast between the north and south facing slopes in this steep narrow valley with the former...
Verdon des Collines
Esparron-de-Verdon, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
Mountain biking | 44 miles
Mountain biking | 44 miles
We (Hubert, Seb and I) headed down to have a go at this competition
at the end of the Verdon Gorge called Verdon des Collines. We deciede
to opt for the 55km route with 1250m of climbing.
It was a very badly organised race and we ended up catching up with
the people that were out marking the course at about 1/4 of the way
round the course at Esparron-de-Verdon. Somewhere near Quinson Hubert
and Seb were about...
I was out running recently and bumped into some local French mountain bikers, who invited me along with them for their next ride. I had been finding it difficult to hook up with locals here due to the lack of a mountain bike club and as luck would have it these guys were heading out for a ride on Saturday afternoon followed by a meeting to chat about forming a club.I held...
This descent from Col Vieux came well recommended with Nico Vuilloz himself saying it ‘knocks the stuffing’ out of Mega and Maxi Avalanche courses. With just over 200m of climbing needed for this outstanding 1200m descent it is a must.The weather looked normal down in Guillestre, but as we headed into the Queyras we could see a dusting of snow on the peaks at the far end, our destination. Sometimes when the...
The craggy summit of Tete de Gaulent (2867m) can easily be seen from the front of our house and I have been keen to make my way up it for some time now. I managed to tempt David Monteith, an Alpine Club member, who was staying with us to come along.I wasn’t exactly sure of the approach, and was interested in trying to enchain the peak with a traverse of the ridge...
