Orpierre

After a picturesque and exciting drive through the mountains we are now at Orpierre, a small village in the haute alpes region. Orpierre is an old mining village which seems to exist only due to climbing these days - it consists of two food shops, a climbing shop and a climbers' bar, and a four star campsite (with a one star climbers' area) which dwarfs the village below. The climbing is therefore very accessible as all the crags are nicely sign-posted from the village and all within ten to twenty minutes walk.

This would be a really good spot if you were looking for a low grade sports climbing area as there is loads in the 5s and 6s from single pitch to 8 pitches and the rock is mostly good quality. There's also probably enough in the harder grades to keep you busy for a while.

On the second day here we ran into Katy and Joe, friends of Jacqui and Dave (and we think we did once meet in Northumberland years ago....) They are here with cousins and their 7 month old baby Samuel and have very nicely fed us for two nights!

Have not taken many pictures here but here I am on the Belleric wall above the village.


By the way have now managed to download the other pictures from Presles so the Presles continued post has been updated below....