Despite its relatively compact size, France boasts a huge range of extraordinarily diverse landscapes offering a huge choice of fun and often unique sporting activities!
SUMMER activities – from hang gliding to via ferrata
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Paragliding course in Chamonix (External link)
Former women’s paragliding champion Sandie Cochepain offers high-altitude paragliding sessions on the grandiose slopes of Mont Blanc
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Paragliding and mountaineering (External link) , with Zeb Roche and Claire Bernier. Zeb is a mountain guide and son of a famous guide who claimed many mountaineering “firsts” in the Himalayas. Zeb was also the youngest paraglider (at the age of 17) to take off from the summit of Everest in a two-seater paraglider with his father.
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Via ferrata (External link) : a unique Franco-Italian activity
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Fantasticable rides (External link) : fly at speeds of 100km/hr connected to a cable
In the mountains this is known as a “zip wire”, an activity in which you are secured into a full body harness connected to a pulley that slides along a cable 15-150m above the ground for over a kilometre, reaching speeds of up to 100km/hr. Enjoy this “hair-raising” attraction in the Vosges, the Ardennes and the Alps of the Haute-Savoie (Châtel).
A French invention dating back to the 18C, the hot-air balloon offers a wonderful opportunity to fly slowly and silently above grandiose landscapes all round the world. However, a high-altitude flight above the Mont Blanc range, at altitudes above 4,000m, will provide an even greater sense of excitement and emotion.
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Hot-air balloon rides above the châteaux of the Loire Valley (External link)
Aerial views of the magnificent castles of the Loire provide a unique and spectacular insight into these listed UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
WINTER activities – from ice-fall climbing to ice diving and speed riding
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Mont-Blanc Luxuary (External link) : ice-fall climbing and freeride skiing courses
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Ice diving beneath frozen mountain lakes
- Dive Extreme (External link) , in Chamrousse (near Grenoble)
- Tignes Plongée, at the Espace Killy (External link)
- Oser (External link) , in Orcières 1850
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Speedriding: a cross between freeride skiing and paragliding
Speedriding involves a combination of skiing down steep slopes and taking to the air at full speed for a few dozen metres at a time. Learn all about this spectacular new sport on a course with a qualified instructor.
- Speedriding-School, in Les Arcs (External link)
- Information on speed riding schools (in French): hang gliding and paragliding federation (External link) .