Ice Climbing Meet, North Ecrins, France

25 Jan 2025 to 2 Feb 2025

MEET FULL - Please contact the meet steward if you'd like to be put on the waiting list.

UPDATE (02/10/2024)
A second Airbnb has now been booked, accommodating 10 people: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/37150632?source_impression_id=p3_1727886475_P3MPP-zrTwwwPek0.

UPDATE (07/08/2024): The main Airbnb for the meet is now full (first 10 people to sign up), but we'll book another Airbnb if more people want to attend. Please sign up and pay the £100 additional accommodation deposit by the end of September to be included the extra accommodation booking. The cost of the additional airbnb will split between those in it and likely be around £30 p.p.p.n.

The deposit is non- refundable.

Ice climbing and skiing on the the Ecrins massif in the French Alps.

We'll be staying in the town of Le Bourg-d'Oisans in the northern Ecrins which is well situated for a range of winter sports.

Activities

For ice climbing there's the beginner friendly area at Alpe d'Huez with short approaches . There's also the world famous La Grave and the lost valley of Vallon du Diable with many excellent multiptich routes. Both Alpe d'Huez and Vallon du Diable are situated above 2000m and have relatively reliable ice.

For those looking for something more esoteric, there's the adventurous mixed climbing of Tetes de Sainte Marguerite.

There's lots of skiing options too with the resorts of Alpe d'Huez and Les Deux Alpes nearby, and the freeride mecca of La Grave less than an hour away.

And of course in the high mountains of the massif there's a wealth of ski touring, ski mountaineering and winter alpine climbing opportunities.

Accommodation

The club has booked a 10 person detached house with 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and a terrace with mountain views.
https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/30015153?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=90c3ea33-a73b-47b6-ac0d-80e38e2f30ac
Once this has filled up we may book more accommodation if there's demand.

Full payment for the accommodation is required on sign up. I'm afraid we can't offer refunds if you have to cancel. If you need to pull out of the meet after booking you can try and find someone else to take your place and pay you the accommodation fees directly.

Travel

The best way to get there is to fly to Lyon and hire a car. The drive from Lyon airport to Le Bourg-d'Oisans is around 1hr 30 mins. Car hire sharing will be organised nearer the time. At the time of writing both flights and car hire were reasonably priced.

Recommended flights:
25th Jan, 10:30: LGW to LYS Easyjet
2nd Feb, 13:05: LYS to LGW BA

Ice Climbing Guidebook

Ecrins: Selected Climbs; Oxford Alpine Club

Prerequisites

This is an ice climbing focused meet and whilst it is suitable for those that are new to this climbing discipline, it is not suitable for those that are new to climbing. Participants will need to have experience of leading multipitch trad climbs and some winter climbing experience in Scotland or elsewhere. If you're reading this in the summer, there's still time to gain this experience before the meet, including enrolling on, for example, a winter climbing course in Scotland.

Links to crag info:

https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/alpe_dhuez-8414/
https://www.ukclimbing.com/videos/categories/winter+alpine/the_amphitheatre_of_ice_-_vallon_du_diable-5810
https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/destinations/la_grave-1516
https://www.camptocamp.org/waypoints/40865/fr/tetes-de-sainte-marguerite