Beautiful Verdon

After over a month in Chamonix we finally bid a sad farewell.

We've had such a lovely time in the Chamonix valley walking and climbing.

We also caught up with some more UK visitors that had been on the Le Tour walk.

Stewart and George have been incredibly lucky with only 1 day of rain.

As we leave Chamonix it has been raining for a few days and snowing in the mountains.

The snow follows us onward to our journey towards the Ercin valley and we arrive in Ailefroide on a rainy cool evening and park up for the night.

The village of Ailefroide is like a forgotten place with very few people around and everything boarded up.

Apparently it's now the off season and it gets busier  in height of summer and the ski season.

Autumn is definitely upon us with cooler mornings and evenings and leaves starting to fall in forest.

We use the next day to recce the routes we wish to do here. Without a guide book for the area and just going on information from websites its best to get it right.

The following morning we head out for the day of granite multi-pitch climbing which we both enjoy. Then it's a day of rest a walk up to the glacier Blanc and another awesome multi-pitched route before move on to slightly warmer area of Céüse near Gap.

The view from Ceuse

The high extensive ridge line of Céüse looks like a proud fortress. A massive rock face running along hillside.

We stay in the nearest campsite about 1 hour walk from the crag. This is our first campsite stay in months preferring to stay in quieter places that campsite just don't offer us.

Walking up to the crag you just help but be blown away by the limestone fortress.

 The climbing here is way out of my league! Lots in the 7 and 8 grades but we did manage a few in the 6 bracket.

Back to Verdon

We discuss going back to Verdon so for better or worse that's what we do.

It will be interesting to see how we do considering in the spring when we first came my Achilles injury was barely 6 months old.

Now we've have banked lots of routes around France, Italy and Switzerland.

Abseiling in Verdon

We've been in Chamonix for about a month staying around the towns of Les Praz and Argentière.
Close distance from Chamonix without so many tourist.
We have weathered the storm of summer holidays tourists and now its a lot more peaceful.
As we planned to stick to the lower laying  climbing destination and only use lift up to Brévent.

Taking the lift up to Brevent.

Its been a pleasant change to spend time in these areas such as Vallon de Bérard, Vallorcine, Les Chésery and Les Dalles de l' Arveyron to name but a few.
These give us a different perspective on pervious experience of Chamonix and with some lovely forest and glacier walks thrown in time has flown by.

Capturing the view from one of our many walks.

Being in Chamonix surrounded by outdoor shops give me an opportunity to pick up some on sale climbing shoes plus some approach shoes from Epic tv from their Sallanches warehouse.
Trying to keep the spending to a minimum but also need to take advantage of the opportunity.