A week in Ailefroide

Date / Location: 2026 July 11-19, Ailefroide, Écrins National Park French Alps

I just came back from a one-week trip to Ailefroide, located in the Écrins National Park in the French Alps. J and I drove there (well, J drove the whole way, I really need to learn to drive) which took us about 8h (600km) from Innsbruck. We picked up some groceries and some gear in Briançon (there’s a big Decathlon and Intersport that are pretty well equipped) and made our way to Camping d’Ailefroide where we met up with J’s friends from the LUAK (Leuvense Universitaire Alpinisten Klub).

I had never heard of Ailefroide before, probably because it’s a climbing village but with a more alpine/mountaineering flavor. It’s not primarily a sport climbing destination but more of an alpine climbing village known for long granite multipitches, mountaineering, and easy access to the Écrins. You’d see people walking around with double ropes instead of single ropes, more alpine gear on their racks, everyone is wearing helmets, and some headed out to a bivouac at higher altitude with their alpine boots, crampons and ice axes. I also found the place to be more inter-generational with many big groups from Belgian/Dutch/French university alpine clubs, families and more experienced climbers, compared to other climbing destinations.

I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in a camping this huge primarily for climbers. It was fun just walking around to check out different van/tent setups (really need to make the van-life plan happen next summer with J!). There is one small shop that has almost everything you’d need to camp out (fresh bread, cheese, meat, cold drinks, camping gear and toiletries, small souvenirs, fresh veggies and fruits but limited) as well as two climbing stores that sell climbing gear and topos. Another van that sells fresh baked goods, a pizza van and a burger van as well. There’s also Ailechaud that sells a great Sabich + fries although a bit pricey which is open till 21:30.

I met K and his sister S (J’s friends from Belgium) who were the sweetest brother-sister duo ever, and some friends from the LUAK. There were a lot of other university climbing clubs there too from neighboring countries. There was a good balance of female-male ratio which I was pleasantly surprised by, looking back at my uni days in Japan where the mountaineering club consisted of only men. A few of them from a program called Mount Coach, a Belgian alpine training program for young climbers. If I could go back in time, I would’ve loved to do something like this when I was a bit younger, but I guess it’s never too late to start. It reminded me of another program that I had applied to for a few years without success - JIRP - maybe would be cool to be on the teaching side or the organizing side of such a program one day? - first I need to improve my own skills and knowledge, but love the concept though.

Anyway, we set up camp, and settled in. Here was the rough overview of what we did:

2026-07-11 sat - arrive, put up tent
2026-07-12 sun - sport multi-pitch Pilier du levant + sport climbing probably La gorge, Tarass boulba (6b+)
2026-07-13 mon - sport multi-pitch Cascades blues, Kasper doing lead solo climbing next to us, swim, cook
2026-07-14 tue - slow start, hike to Sélé Refuge (13:00 leave camp, 17:00 arrive hut, Sele lentil soup salad chili con carne tapioca coco Amande, less fancy than Austria but I like it better. 110 EUR total. Bivouac possible is even better. I think we should move to France.)
2026-07-15 wed - Sélé Refuge - Pointe des Bœufs Rouges : Arête NNW, glacier travel, ridge climb (u-turn half way, feeling a bit shaky from exposure and worried about weather change, too slow to reach the ridge)
2026-07-16 thu - Rest day + pizza night (homemade pizza!!)
2026-07-17 fri - follow a trad multi-pitch, Fissure d’Ailefroide (5b)
2026-07-18 sat - Sport multi-pitch Petit Palaver (5c), lead half & rappelled half
2026-07-19 sun: drive back to Innsbruck through Lake Como (swim)

Grocery haul packed into the car in Briançon — Stocking up in Briançon before heading up to the valley - a week’s worth of food and gear crammed into the boot.

Vans and tents at Camping d’Ailefroide beneath the mountains — Camping d’Ailefroide, tents and vans scattered under the granite walls.

The little shop at the campsite — The one small shop on site — fresh bread, cheese, cold drinks and just about anything you’d need to camp out.

Stone tower covered in retired climbing ropes at Ailefroide — An homage to JMC - Jean-Michel Cambon, who developed hundreds of granite sport and multi-pitch routes in the area

Looking down the Ailefroide valley from a multi-pitch — Pilier du levant 6b

Climber on a long granite multi-pitch above the valley — K casually lead rope soloing and running up and down the wall beside us.

Approach trail through the valley towards the Sélé refuge

Hiking through the meadow below the peaks

Boulders and scree on the approach — Approach to the Sélé Refuge

Waterfalls tumbling over the moraine in the Écrins — Glaciers are gone! says J

The Sélé refuge - a cute little hut with an outside shower, a piano, a huge chess board, decent mattress, and great vegetarian food.

Boot and gear room at the Sélé refuge — Everyone here seems to have alpine equipment

The topo corner at the refuge — Topos, books, weather forecast and a black board that lists the conditions of different alpine routes and recommended start time.

Menu board at the Sélé refuge — Homemade water kefir!

Dinner at the refuge with the Écrins guidebook — For dinner, lentil soup, some salad then Chili sin carne with rice, fresh homemade bread and a coco-tapioca-almond pudding for desert. 50 EUR/person half pension is so much cheaper compared to Tirol

Sunrise over the Écrins from the glacier — Sunrise breaking over the Écrins peaks as we start up the glacier.

Glacier travel in the morning — Crevasses!

Roped up crossing the glacier — More crevasses!

Crossing the snowfield on the approach to the Pointe des Bœufs Rouges — View from the ridge.

On the Bœufs Rouges ridge — On the rocky ridge — this is roughly where we turned back, feeling shaky on the exposure.

Swim spot by the river — Back down at the campsite, there’s a small pool where you can dip after a climbing day.

Sélé refuge at dusk — Aaand some Sabich at the Ailechaud restaurant as a last day’s treat

A few new discoveries on this trip: climbing beyond single pitch sport climbing (trad, multi-pitch, higher altitude climbing), ridge climbing (need to get used to exposure) and glacier traveling (got a tiny better at not stepping into a crevasse hooray!) How nice it is to be able to bivouac and pitch a tent (which is forbidden in Tirol, sigh) and realization that I might prefer the vibes in France over Austria when it comes to the huts and the people. Made me question why I still couldn’t let go of the big-city girl in me and leave Berlin completely behind - which is preventing me from discovering the mountain-curious side of me to the fullest while I feel like time is running out and I’m only getting older.

And most of all, I was super frustrated and disappointed with my climbing in general - I feel like I’ve been plateauing for the past 2 years and haven’t gotten any better. I want to get to a point where I can comfortably onsight 6s, which would open me up to so many more options. More structured training! And maybe get some coaching. And to refresh theory more often at home (e.g. practice knots, rope work, crevasse rescue etc because I always forget them) - need more structure, system and FOCUS.