The invasion at Ailefroide - France

Ailefroide is a spectacular area at the base of the French alps which comes alive in the summer months. There are plenty of 8-15 pitch climbs to be done in the shade which makes for awesome days out without getting toasted. (Alot of climbing sites in France are south facing so in the sun where it is impossible to climb until the afternoon.) It is much cooler in Ailefroide than further south, and so at around 20 degrees climbing is comfortable. The rock consists of granite slabs, with not many hand holds, so the climbing is all in the legs, but they are really enjoyable, sustained routes.

The campsite at Ailefroide is at the end of a cul de sac ( try saying that to a French peron) after which you can walk onto the southernmost glacier of the Alps – the Massif des Ecrins. It is not just the end of a road, but the end of the road for lots of families, who come to stay in the summer months. When we arrived there were 50 or so parties, and by the end of our stay, there were some 853 parties staying there!! Over the 2 weeks our campsite which had included a frisbee throwing area, yoga practise area, a slackline between two trees, a 5x4 tarp, a toilet block, a tent and plenty of different car parks was slowly invaded. We then couldnt play frisbee without knocking out the Swedish babies, my yoga was confined to a mat, there were tents either side of the slackline and somebodies washing draped over it, half the tarp fell down in a storm, there were dogs sniffing around our food, we had to wait hours for showers, we could hear snoring from the neighbours tent at night, and the powerpoints at the toilet block were all taken up so I couldn’t recharge the computer.... people really do come out in summer!

After the invasion, we had to get up earlier and earlier to go for a days climbing. One day we arrived at the bottom of a multipitch just before a party of 6 arrived, much to our relief. One of the men asked me what climb we were on, and I told him we were on an easy arrete called Pallavar Les Flots. We had planned to do the climb which had been recommended to us as being very easy – around grade 4c (grade 10, 11) but worthwhile with its stunning views. We were in the mood for a cruisy but enjoyable day, so that suited us fine. The man who was leading the party followed us up. He was taking a group who had never climbed outdoors or on multipitch before, so they were quite nervous. The climb was meant to be 13 pitches, but after 10 both Nic and I looked and looked for more bolts to no avail. Every way up, the rock went into an abyss. Eventually the man who was leading the party behind us caught up to us at the anchors and looked at me with some distaste when we asked him if he knew where to go. This is not the right route he said, this is not Pallavar Les Flots. This is much harder, see, he said and he showed us his guidebook which was more up to date than ours and had newer routes on it. This is a ten pitch climb - this is it. Hmmm, it figures I thought, yes, it was strange that in our guidebook it looked like you went up the arrete, but in reality we hadn’t climbed up any arrete. So, as we rappelled down, we overheard the rest of his group moaning and groaning about how long and difficult the day was..... Part of me felt guilty and sorry for them............ and the other part of me started to laugh; you get what you deserve when you follow idiots like us blindly...