The Community
This Project is About People
We love people and we think that when they come together, magic happens. Everyone has their unique path in life, has been through a unique set of experiences and accumulated specific knowledge. When we share time together, we get surprised, we get smarter, we laugh, we cry, we challenge ourselves, we learn from our mistakes, we help each other, we realize that we are all facing the same kind of issues, we connect with each other, we reconnect with ourselves, and all of that enables us to blossom, each of us in our own beautiful way.
We love mountain activities because they ground us in the now, make us forget about our everyday worries and reconnects us to nature. Cloud Citadel is a place where we thrive at finding a healthy balance between what we have to do and we want to do. Nature is never far and a quick bath in a forest of pine trees, where the water flows, the wind blows and the sun gently shines through the canopy, is the best remedy for a crowded mind.
An inspiring community
We are a team of four: two of us, Jelena & Joé, and two volunteers. The two most important events of the week are The Monday Family Meeting and The Saturday Family Dinner. During the latter, we usually go a little presentation round if new colivers joined us recently, and then we plan together the indoor and outdoor activities of the week.
As people here work (yes they really do!), during weekdays, shorter activities (30min – 2h) are usually organized in the early morning, at lunchtime or in the evenings, and longer activities are for the weekends. Then, it really depends of the schedule and availability of everyone, it also often happened that a group of people take half day off as the conditions where just perfect for the plan they have in mind.
Everyone can suggest an activity and is free to join or not. This approach empowers our colivers, places them at the center of the community and enables people to organize themselves workwise and free their schedule when there is an activity they want to participate in.
The flux of kind, warm-hearted, ambitious, creative and surprising human beings we received since we opened often left us wordless. We are infinitely grateful that they shared a piece of their life with us while being here. The uncountable numbers of great laughs, deep discussions and warm moments we had together is priceless and forged unforgettable memories that we will hold dear forever. If you already came here, and are reading this one. Thank you.
A paradise for outdoors lovers
Something that truly makes Briançon valley different from other mountains areas is the sun. We are getting so much of it, and it is great as the outside is almost always welcoming, for couple minutes, couple hours or an entire day.
The house is located at the edge of the old town. You’ll find many restaurants, shops and bars within couple minutes walk if you fancy to eat outside, or grab the famous raclette sandwich of L’épicerie fine de vauban, the yummy italian hot chocolate from Pâtisserie Turin and tasty local beers in Café Champ de Mars. There is always someone up for it!
As nice forest pathes are only a few minutes away, lunch hikes/runs became also quite popular. Picnic in the Old Library square next to the house, or in Parc de la Schappe, next to the lake, is of course also an option. Just to add a bit more fun to these little breaks, there is also a short Via Ferrata and a treetop adventure park there.
When the week-end comes, it is time for a longer aventure, Ecrins national park, Queyras regional park, the famous Vallée de la Clarée and the proximity from the italian border makes our playground infinite… hiking, biking, climbing, via ferrata, trail running, via ferratas, rafting, canyoning, barbecues, going to nice hidden mountains restaurants, sleeping in high altitude mountain refuges, everything is possible!
A Paradise for Outdoors Lovers
The house is located at the edge of the old town. You’ll find many restaurants, shops and bars within couple minutes walk if you fancy to eat outside, or grab the famous raclette sandwich of L’épicerie fine de vauban, the yummy italian hot chocolate from Pâtisserie Turin and tasty local beers in Café Champ de Mars. There is always someone up for it!
As nice forest pathes are only a few minutes away, lunch hikes/runs became also quite popular. Picnic in the Old Library square next to the house, or in Parc de la Schappe, next to the lake, is of course also an option. Just to add a bit more fun to these little breaks, there is also a short Via Ferrata and a treetop adventure park there.
When the week-end comes, it is time for a longer aventure, Ecrins national park, Queyras regional park, the famous Vallée de la Clarée and the proximity from the italian border makes our playground infinite… hiking, biking, climbing, via ferrata, trail running, via ferratas, rafting, canyoning, barbecues, going to nice hidden mountains restaurants, sleeping in high altitude mountain refuges, everything is possible!
A warm and cosy Interior
A lot happens outdoors, but indoors also. Aside from the apparent love of our colivers to bake anything possible, we had the chance to host amaaazing cooks that prepared the best brunches, picnics, dinners and random sweet/savoury treats at any time of the day, with influences from all around the world: Moroccan, Romanian, Swedish, Russian, Polosh, Italian, Thaï, Vietnamese, Japanese, Indian, Mexican, just to name a few… We travelled every week in a new world of unique flavors and atmospheres!
Another category of events that is part of Cloud Citadel DNA are skill shares and masterminds. Did you ever wish to learn something new direclty from a person that knows a lot about a specific topic? Well, everyone coming here has their own unique life path and experiences, and usually accumulated a fair package of skills. Did you ever wish to have a doctor in biology explain you how RNA vaccines work? A creative technologist teach you how to program a flying donuts game? A trader tell you how to better manage your money? A professionnal writer organize writing workshops? A machine learning expert explain how she makes the algorithms more fair? An engineer debunk the different stages of conception/production of complex electronic devices?
And of course the typical movies/documentaries nights, video/board games nights, quiz nights, spa nights, morning yoga/meditation, afternoon crossfit/stretching, wine/beers tasting, French classes, debates, etc.
