Summer in Ailefroide

The dust has settled after our trip to the French Alps and I'm only now getting around to writing a note for this blog. Catia, Fidel, Tanya and me spent two weeks camping at Ailefroide surely one of the best campsites for climbers in France - a controversial claim but if I can't be subjective in my own blog...?
Anyway, the setting always reminds me a little of photos I've seen of the Yosemite valley; granite cliffs towering above grassy meadows and conifer woods. The camping ground extends right across the valley bottom and there's enough room that even when busy there seems to be plenty of space. We arrived to the early evening smoke of many camp fires.
We quickly settled down into the camping routine, breakfast coffee and croissants then out to the crags to climb. We spent some time on the Ecoles d'Escalades and later Fidel and I had a couple of days on longer routes, including the easy 12 pitch classic Palavar les Flots.

Mont Pelvoux from the Glacier Blanc Refuge (more pictures here)

We went walking too and ended the trip with a mini expedition; firstly a night at the Glacier Blanc Refuge followed by a 4:30am start to attempt the 3300m high Pic du Glacier d'Arsine. That 'Facile' route turned out to be a tottering pile of rubble and felt a bit unjustifiable so we retreated from the col at 3200m. After a second night, this time at the Ecrins Refuge we settled for a tour of the dry Glacier Blanc, wandering through the maze of crevasses and winding our way back, eventually, to the valley.