We are planning to book spaces in the Ailefroide campsite which is large so there should be room for a large group of us. The campsite is right in the middle of the village so most of the climbing, hiking, shops and bars are within walking distance.

Getting there

Fly to Turin: Ryanair are currently doing flights from Stansted to Turin for around £110 though with a £50-£70 check-in luggage charge on top of that. The drive from Turin to Ailefroide is about 2.5 hours.
Easyjet also fly to Turin but there are no flights in June at the moment. This might change later on.
BA have flights from Sunday to Sunday for about £230.
Fly to Geneva: Easyjet have flights for about £111 including 20kg luggage
Train: You can get the sleeper train from London-Paris-Briancon for about £175 return and takes about 15 hours.

Climbing

Most of the climbing in the area is multi-pitch sport climbing. The rock is granite and there are hundreds of routes in the grade range 3-6. There is a decent number of 7s as well.
Ailefroide is also home to probably the best bouldering area in france outside of font (there are shops where you can rent crash pads in the town).There is also a single trad route called Fissure D’ailefroide which is apparently a classic and well worth doing.
The best guidebook is probably Escalades autour d’Ailefroide by Jean Michel Cambon though you can also buy a topo from the local shops. More info on Summit Post.

Hiking

There are a lot of walking trails in the area. This website describes a good selection of single day walks: http://www.wikiloc.com/trails/hiking/france/provence-alpes-cote-dazur/ailefroide

There are also several mountain refuges in which you can spend the night before hiking to one the summits that surround the valley. This website has a little more information but I would be grateful if anyone could recommend a guide book for the area: http://www.ailefroide.com/english/html/sports_activities.html

Via Ferrata

This website describes 7 via ferrata around the Ecrins: http://www.paysdesecrins.com/via-ferrata. This site has more detail on each via: http://www.laviaferrata.net/liste-via-ferrata-france.php. It looks like most of them start in other towns so it is likely necessary to use a car to get to the start of them.

Biking

There is a nice guide here with a map of bike routes in the area: http://www.paysdesecrins.com/espace-vtt-ffc-pays-des-ecrins-2013.pdf

Canyoning

According to this site there are two spots to do canyoning near Ailefroide: http://www.descente-canyon.com/canyoning/lieu/16/21234/Ailefroide.html

Rafting

I couldn’t find out much about rafting in the area except for the fact that it’s possible. Presumably the tourist centre in Ailefroide would have all the information you need.