TOP ROCK CLIMBING SITES

Top rock climbing sites

Hautes-Alpes is an eldorado for rock climbers. It is here, in these stunning surroundings, that the sport of rock climbing in France has its roots, the home of some of the most famous climbs, the greatest rock climbing events and the most accomplished champions. It is also here that anyone can try this challenging discipline for the first time – in a part of France almost untouched by development.

Ailefroide, at the feet of giants

In the heart of the Écrins National Park, under the shadow of towering peaks of legend such as the Barre des Écrins and Le Pelvoux, Ailefroide is an unrivalled high-altitude rock climbing site. Here, rock in all its forms is everywhere, stretching as far as the eye can see. In addition to a chaos of granite scree lining a vast swathe of mountainside, excellent-quality granite slabs and short pitches for learners, this area offers several multi-pitch routes and boulders too. Climbers of all abilities – from beginner to die-hard expert – are catered for by the great diversity of routes here. As a result, every climber will have the time of their life, among unique scenery. All of the climbing is accessible form the hamlet of Ailefoide (1500 m altitude) and the area known as Le Pré de Madame Carle.

The legendary Céüse

With its distinctive artfully honed outline and perfectly proportioned limestone profile, the great crag at Céüse in the Gap region is a must for rock climbers. Come here to climb and you will find delicately sculpted grey slabs, ochre overhangs riddled with holes and singular walls bluish in colour where you lose your sense of the vertical, all deployed across a compact ribbon of stunning limestone crag 4 km long in breathtaking surroundings with views of the Oisans and the region’s other great massifs. The stamping ground of luminaries such as Patrick Edlinger and Jean-Christophe Lafaille, Céüse is a crag of legend, an essential part of the history of rock climbing. But because it offers such a wide diversity of routes (some 400 in all), this crag is not just for the climbing elite – it’s accessible to climbers of all abilities. With climbs of grade 4 to 9b on offer, anyone come here to follow in the footsteps of the world’s greatest climbers. And that’s not all: Céüse boasts one of the hardest routes in the world. ‘Biographie’, graded a 9a+, is some 40 metres long with a 30° overhang.

Orpierre, the climbers’ village

Orpierre is the ultimate rock climbing village – a temple to the sport. Every climbing route here is accessible from the village centre – and this site boasts some 370 of them, divided into nine sectors. With climbs of grades 3c to 8c to choose from, Orpierre is one of France’s leading climbing destinations. The great variety on offer means that every climber will find something to suit them depending on how much they want to do and their situation, whether climbing with their family, their friends or solo. And the climbing sites are accessible all year round.



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