Alpine Break

The Guillestrois comprises the communes situated around the ‘elbow’ of the Durance, as well as the valley of Vars which leads over to the Ubaye to the south. Part if this area is in the Ecrins National Park. This is the driest region in the French Alps and one of the sunniest.

Accessible all year round by the impressive gorges du Guil, and also in summer via the col d’Izoard (2360m, famous from its use by the Tour de France) as well as the lesser known col Agnel (at 2744m the highest international pass in the Alps), the Queyras covers the basin of the Guil. Situated between the Italian Piedmont region, the Alps of Haute Provence and the Durance valley, with its villages between 1300m and 2000m, its high cols and many summits over 3000m this area is the High Alps, and is privileged with sunnier weather than the Mediterranean coast. The richness of flora and fauna in this area as well as the natural culture and the architecture, justified the creation, in 1977, of the Queyras Natural Park.

We are situated right in the middle of these two areas and have an incredible range of walking, hiking, rambling and scrambling opportunities all around. Walks range from short family strolls through fantastic scenery such as the hidden valley of the Escreins to long and technical scrambles up rocky peaks with fantastic views.

We have a good selection of guide books you can look at and our local knowledge can be called upon to help you choose your walks. We can also arrange for you to go out with a local walk leader if you wish.

The Hautes Alpes is one of the best ice climbing playgrounds in Europe. The majority of the region is over 1000m high with more 3000m peaks than any other area in the Alps. There are a large number of well orientated valleys with north facing walls which stay out of the sun and form great ice falls. The fabled climate of 300 sunny clear days means that more often than not the climbing is on sunny days and the nights are cold enough to keep the ice in condition.

The region offers up over 500 different ice routes of all levels from small single pitch teasers up to 800m long expeditions. Some of the better known areas are the Vallee du Fournel, Fressinieres and Ceillac. It is not uncommon to be able to park your car some ten to fifteen minutes walk from the ice falls and there are often bolts in the rock at the most obvious belay points.

In January every year there is a world renouned ice climbing festival held at Argentiere la Bessee called I.C.E. where ice climbers from all over the world come together to take part in competitions, look at the new equipment, meet other climbers and equipment manufaturers, watch the Banff Mountain Film Festival and much more.

UK Contact number
Tel: 0844 232 5683 (3p a minute at any time)

France Contact numbers
Tel:  +33 4 92 21 47 42
Fax: +33 8 26 71 59 18

If you would like to contact us by email then please do so using the form below.

Here are a selection of tools and webcams that I find useful for seeing what the weather is like and what it is expected to do in the near future.

Weather forecasts
The MeteoGroup forecast for Guillestre (English)
The Meteo.fr forecast for Guillestre (French)
The MSN forecast for Guillestre (English)
The LaChaineMeteo twelve day forecast for Guillestre (French)
The Weather.com ten day forceast for the Foret de Risoul (English)
The Weather.com ten day forecast for Embrun (English)
The Weather.com ten day forecast for Briancon (English)
The Meteo.fr forecast for the Hautes Alpes (French)
The Metox radar images of Europe
The MeteoCiel weather models for France

Forecast Maps
Webcams
There is a good webcam up at Serre Chevalier looking over at the Pelvoux in the Ecrins mountain range

This webcam up at col Agnel is useful for seeing conditions on the Franco-Italian border

Weather maps and satellite
The Weather Channel satellite map of France

The Sembach satellite analysis for Europe

Accuweather

Yahoo

MeteoConsult

Weather Station Data
Col Agnel

There are a number of guide books for this area that we have here and are available for clients use, however, if you wish to purchase your own copy, click on the links below.

Mountain Biking
 This book by Xavier Buffet covers the whole Hautes Alpes department. There are 60 routes in it of all levels from family circuits to hard technical and physical rides. He has also used a selection of different altitudes so that there are rides that are suitable for every part of the year.

There is also a series of three books in the VTOPO range. VTOPO Hautes Alpes Est Experts, VTOPO Hautes Alpes Est - Initiés, and VTOPO Hautes Alpes Est - Famille et Initiation. These three books have about 150 rides in total in them which are located more specifically around this part of the Hautes Alpes. They have only just been released (hence no pictures on Amazon) but from what I have ridden so far they seem to be good rides and well described.

Resort Skiing

We tend to ski mostly at Vars and Risoul which are linked together and create a large varied skiing area. Risoul is more family orientated and is mostly in the trees, Vars is more open and has steeper off piste as well as the speed skiing piste where Philippe Billy recorded 243.902 kmh and Christian Taillefer managed 212.139 kmh on a mountain bike!

Another resort that we really like is Crevoux. There are only two drag lifts there but they drag you up nearly 1000m and there is a huge amount of off piste to be skied on the way back down. This resort is tiny and cheap, 7€ for a day pass, but the best place to be after a good snow fall.

Les Orres is not too far to drive and for resort skiing it is great with a good selection of pistes and nice restraunts on the hill. There is also a back bowl which hardly ever has any tracks in it as it seems to lead to nowhere, but it does eventually come out back on the main road up to Les Orres where the free shuttle busses will stop and pick you up.

Ceillac is another little resort with a cheap lift pass. Ceillac is a great setting off point for a number of ski tours, and 5€ will get you up the chairlift knocking about 400m off your climb.

Puy Saint Vincent is also worth the short drive. With all the piste being north facing it generally holds the snow well, it is steeper at the top but is mainly a family resort. It is also possible to drop over the ridge at the top into the neighbouring Narreyroux valley down some great steep couloirs and still traverse out to the lifts at Puy 1400.

The map below shows the locations of the resorts that are near to us here at Alpine Break. Click on a skier for more info about the resort and its distance from Le Chateau

download it to view in Google Earth

Ski Touring

The ski touring in both the Queyras and the Ecrins is fantastic. There are a number of websites that have information about the ski touring in this area that are very useful if your French is OK. Even if your French is not that good they are worth a look.
SkiTour.fr - Queyras
SkiTour.fr - Ecrins
Bivouak.net - Queyras
Bivouak.net - Ecrins

We have a selection of guide books here for you to look at. If you would like to have your own copy to look at before coming out then we reccomend the ones below.

We can also book an English speaking Mountain Guide for you if you so desire.

The Hautes-Alpes region of France is a fantastic playground for a multitude of different activities. The mountain biking is the reason that we moved here and it is just unbelievable, miles and miles of amazing singletrack, leg burning ascents and exhilarating descents. There are loads of cragging spots dotted around the area.

We are located in the south east of France not far from the Italian border. Here are some links to maps of our location in Google Maps, Multimap, and Via Michelin

We think that for both mountain biking and for canoeing the difficulties of carrying all your kit on planes is quite significant, and you will probably want a car to get around in when you are here so the best way to get here is to drive.

This page shows the road conditions in the Hautes-Alpes on  google map

This page shows the status of the cols and roads accessing the high mountains

This page shows what is on the electronic roadside signs in the Hautes Alpes

Le Chateau

Alpine Break is situated just outside Guillestre in a lovely house called Le Chateau. The actual Chateau in Guillestre was destroyed in the 1600’s, in the late 1800’s a local landowner and painter called Lombard decided to build a new house in roughly the same spot. They started their own quarry to get the stone for the house and it took them 10 years to build it. The house is in a fantastic position within a couple of minutes walk from the center of the town yet sat in beautiful green fields with fantastic views up to the Ecrins mountain range and into the Gorge du Queyras. The main site header is the view from the front of the house.

At present we have four rooms in the house itself which we are going to rent out on a bed and breakfast basis. There is a good selection of restaurants in the town ranging from cheap pizzaria’s to quality French cuisine, we will also be cooking a number of meals each week here at the Chateau which guests are welcome to participate in.

We also have two apartments in the gardens which we are currently working on. Once these are finished we will be renting them out as independent self catered units. they will both sleep four to six people. There will also be the possibility for larger groups that wish to self cater to rent one or two of the apartments and rooms in the house and use the apartments for cooking.

The lounge area is modern and comfortable. It is fully equipped with a large flat screen television and access to British Sky channels. We have an extensive DVD library available for clients use, and numerous magazines and guide books to browse. There is free wifi access throughout the house. The dining area comfortably seats ten. There is also outside seating on the terrace where we have bbq’s and evening meals when the days are long and warm. When the nights start to close in, the wood burning stove is the finishing touch to an already cosy atmosphere.

The Bedrooms

All of the bedrooms are recently refurbished with en-suite facilities; shower, toilet and washbasin. We can sleep up to ten people in the house and we also have a cot available if needed. Please click on the pictures to see a larger version.

Bedroom 1 is a large room with a double and a single bed, this room has access onto the balcony with stunning views towards the Ecrins mountain range and the setting sun.

Bedroom 2 is also a large room with a double and single bed and access onto the balcony. The other window in this room looks out towards the Queyras mountains.

Bedroom 3 is a double room facing south east with views over the garden and towards the hidden valley of the Escreins.

Bedroom 4 is a twin room with a large sunny bathroom, looking out over the garden and to the south.

Welcome to Alpine Break

Situated in the heart of the Hautes-Alpes (or High Alps) region of France we are ideally situated for a large number of outdoor activities. We are surrounded by fifteen different ski resorts ranging from ten to forty five kilometres away which offer a great range and variety of skiing. In the summer the same resorts have lifts open making them ideal for mountain biking and walking. The majority of them have dedicated biking trails of all standards, as well as bike parks and ‘North Shore’ style areas.

The area is also well known for its excellent white water, and is generally regarded as one of the best spots in Europe for kayaking. There are also a large number of rafting outfits around for people who are not so experienced in kayaks. Canyoning is another sport that is popular around here with some fantastic canyons to try.

Sandwiched between the Ecrins and Queyras mountains there is no shortage of rock for climbers. There are over seventy different sport climbing crags within the same forty five kilometre drive from here offering thousands of routes of all grades on good bolt protected rock. Then in the Ecrins and the Queyras there are real quality alpine routes that don’t suffer from the queuing issues that you get in the Chamonix area.

Just ten minutes down the road is the largest reservoir in Europe which is busy with boating, water skiing, windsurfing and kite skiing.

We believe that there is something to tempt anyone who loves the outdoors in this area and we look forward to your visit.

Quite simply it doesn’t get any better! Guillestre is right at the centre of the boating scene in the French Alps!

For the novice paddlers there are the lakes of the various plan d’eau’s at Roche de Rame or Argentiere for example.

The intermediate paddlers will get their fill on the Durance. The thirty kilometre section from Argentiere le Besse down to Embrun is never harder than grade III (there are two easily portaged sections) and can easily be split into manageable portions.

It is however for the advanced paddlers that the area is renowned! If grade III and above is what you want then the area has the lot! The Guil (as in Guil – lestre) has a number of sections that are all great. The highest sections offer some low volume grade III runs – lower sections offer river running at any grade you can handle! Then there’s the Durance gorge, the Briancon gorge, the Gyr and the Onde. Don’t forget to check out the Claree and the Guisane too! A trip or two over to the Ubaye is also a must! A variety of sections from the tough grade III upper section on through the grades to as hard as it gets! The Ubaye racecourse is the best of it – a brilliant roller-coaster of grade IV alpine white water fun!

There is an English guide available, written by Pete Knowles – White Water Europe – South. This is the Bible!

The earlier in the season you go, the bigger (read harder) the water will be! Early May – early August.

There are some webcams on the rivers so you can check out the conditions:-
on the Guil at Chateau Queyras
on the Durance at the Rabioux wave
on the white water course at Argentiere

The whole area around Guillestre is just fantastic for mountain biking of all types. Whether you are a full on downhiller, casual freerider, hardcore cross country rider or just want to potter along family trails.

The table below lists a number of the rides based around us here at Guillestre. You can sort the table by clicking on the column headers. Also if you click on Mountain Biking in the Blog Categories menu on the left you will get a list of rides that  We have been on recently with descriptions and photos.

[TABLE=1]