A Skiing, Snowshoeing, Ice Climbing holiday in the Queyras, France

Darron and I flew to Marseille at the beginning of February half term and drove to the lovely French village of Abries.

What a delightful village – a mixture of very old and the new, friendly and helpful locals (very few had any English at all but it is surprising how well you can communicate with the odd word and some hand gestures and pointing...!!).  The ski apartment was,  in Darron’s words  ‘bigger than the average and a great deal cheaper...!!).  It was an easy and pleasant walk into the village for bread in the morning and a beer in the evening.

Darron skied at Abries, Ceillac and St Veyran – one black run he particularly enjoyed as there was no one else around, so he did it twice...!! And he did some venturing ‘off piste’.   Other comments from Darron were - how cheap the lift passes, ski hire were and the lack of queues. 

On 2 occasions we went snowshoeing.  The hire of the shoes was inexpensive 5 – 7 Euros for a day.  The first time we went up on the ski lift ,then set off away from the skiers  along the GR and soon found ourselves in a white and peaceful wilderness.  There is certainly no effort to walking in snow when you have the snow shoes on.!  The second snow shoe venture was again along a GR to a frozen Lake and Belvedere – again very beautiful and very peaceful.  Definitely an activity that both Darron and I would  highly recommend.

Perhaps the toughest day and the one where I felt I had really achieved was our ice climbing day.  We set off from the car park in Celliac at 11.30am to climb ‘Holiday on Ice’.  This is a 250 metres climb  which we completed in 6 pitches. It was not all hard as in between the ice steps were some easy snow gullies.  The hardest pitch was a 40 feet ice face that was at 90 degrees......a challenge!!.  Darron was brilliant – and 3 ice screws were strategically placed.  For me, my first ever ice climb, to second that pitch gave me an enormous sense of achievement.  We  finally arrived back at the car (it was a long descent...!!) at 6.30pm....!!!  Both, to say the least, were very weary by the time we arrived  back at the apartment but very happy after a fantastic day.

All in all we had a fabulous time and it is certainly a place we would recommend for a varied holiday in the Alps. The Quyeras is an excellent place to holiday, very family friendly and a great venue for those who do not ski but want to enjoy the beauty and the atmosphere.

Marion