Ice Climbing Ecrins, 25th meeting at Argentière - La Bessée

It was back in 1990 that Gérard Pailheret realized that the countless drips of ice located in the Fournel and Freissinières valleys, in the heart of the Hautes Alpes, could be an ideal location to share the joys of ice climbing and after that historic first meeting, the "Ice Climbing Ecrins" quickly turned into one of the most important meetings in the world.

The meeting is obviously about far more than simply getting to know others and climbing together. In fact, over time it has transformed into an important opportunity to share information about ice climbing techniques and for years the event has made mountain safety one of its main priorities. Workshops deal with a wide variety of subjects such as ice climbing for beginners, crampon progression, ice screw placements, belays and rope-work, drytooling, avalanche rescue search as well as classic snowshoe walking and a lot more. As always the heart of the event will be the village where, after a day’s climbing, there are films, an international dry tooling competition, meetings and concerts organised to celebrate as best possible these 25 years of "passion glacée."

For info and registration: www.ice-climbing-ecrins.com




22/12/2007 - Freissinieres - ice climbing in the Ecrins, France
A selection of 10 fantastic icefalls in the world famous Ecrins National Park, France by Mountain Guide Mario Sertori.