A fine alpine day, getting into the groove of the new location, pace of life and some time scoping the place out a bit. Great news is that there is a five minute walk along a beautiful river to the local bakers from the house.

We had ourselves a relaxing morning to try and get over the driving, having a look around the village and enjoying fresh pain au chocolates on the terrace.

We also ventured up towards the end of the road, where we spent the rest of the day climbing on a shady crag next to the big ‘fissure d’alifroide’ and soaking up the vistas.

I climbed the big ‘fissure’ (see photo below), with Phil George back in 1998, but today we stayed much closer to the ground, with some nice 35m pitches of slab climbing.

It was the perfect place to remember how to climb this style of rock – balance and bravery seem to be the key to success as there’s not much to hold onto!

Saw plenty of nice views, our first edelweiss of the trip and so many butterflies!

On the way down, we cooled our toes off in the river (freezing!).

As we were walking back to the car, we bumped into Dave and Elle, who were just down from a big climb and tucking into some food in one of the roadside cafes in Ailefroide. In a stroke of luck we also bought a new climbing guide from the local climbing shop. I knew there was an updated version of ours (in French) that was published last year so was keen to buy it, but at the cash desk, the owner told us that the English version was being released this week, so went and swapped the French one I’d picked up for a super fresh English version! So much easier to navigate!!

The guidebook writer died a few years ago, and in the village there is now a ‘drill shaped’ memorial to him.

Sous La Fissure Climbs:

• Derma Spray, 5b
• Horizontal Limit, 5b*
• Cliff Hamburger, 6a+
• Le Benêt vole, 4c**
• Le Benêt Vol, 5c