Lac du Lauzon on the Edge of Ecrins National Park in the French Alps.
Ever wondered whether there are still any truly hidden gems waiting to be discovered in areas as popular as the French Alps?
Sally of undiscovered alps was wondering the same. Until she discovered a beautiful unspoilt spot on the edge of the Ecrins National Park.
She and Bernard are now offering special mountaineering holidays and snowshoeing holidays to the French Alps that you can also find on the WalkingHolidayInfo website. Here’s their story…
Adventure in the French Alps
As so many of the walking holiday providers on walkingholidayinfo.com, Sally is an outdoor enthusiast who loves walking, snowshoeing, ski touring and mountaineering. After spending 2 years of her childhood in Norway and several holidays in the European Alps, she had a strong desire to have proper winters with lots of snow and decent sunny summers. She set out for adventure, trying to find this very special undiscovered place in the French Alps, while speaking no French at all to start with!
Ecrins National Park
After a lot of driving and exploring she discovered her little corner of the Southern French Alps by accident on a drive through from the Northern Alps and she fell in love with it straight away. The area just on the border of Ecrins National Park had everything she was looking for; still very traditional French villages with strong alpine culture, not commercialised or touristy, fabulous walking and mountaineering with lots of variety and not many people. Here it is still possible to go to a high mountain refuge and be on your own. Amazing snowshoeing and ski touring possibilities in the winter – again in relatively untouched, pristine natural wildernesses. Wildlife abundant with chamois, ibex, mouflon, boar and even wolves and flora to die for if you are into meadows with 60 species of orchids.
Going from strength to strength
Sally started making contacts and learning French and set up Undiscovered Alps to be able to share this amazing place with others. After 3 years she met Bernard, a fully licensed high mountain guide and wildlife enthusiast. They were a perfect match and Undiscovered Alps has gone from strength to strength with the addition of Bernard’s guiding skills and passion for the mountains and wildlife. Bernard leads mountaineering trips, snowshoeing trips and wolf tracking trips for undiscovered Alps.
Sustainable walking and adventure holidays
Both Sally and Bernard are passionate about doing business sustainably. In winter they are trying to develop non-ski based trips to provide employment opportunities for local ski instructors and accommodation providers so that they are less dependent on the ski market which is very damaging to the environment. Their policy is to use local businesses and suppliers as much as possible to ensure that the money generated by undiscovered Alps stays in the local community.
Sally and Bernard of undiscovered Alps are a typical example of the holiday providers on Walkingholidayinfo.com. Passionate outdoor people who run a small local business. They will organise that special walking holiday with a personal touch for you. Have a look at their walking holidays on walkingholidayinfo.com:
Snowshoeing in the Southern French Alps
Alps Mountaineering Intro
Or visit their own website for full information on their adventure and multi activity holidays to the Southern French Alps.