In reply to nakedave: You can usually hire kit in local shops but if you're going to do several it may be worth buying kit out there (cheaper than in UK). There are several VFs in the Briancon area on the north & east side of the Ecrins. There's an English guidebook (published by Cordee? - easy to find on the web) to all the French VFs although more have been established since it was written. There's also a website about all the French VFs, can't remember what it's called but again it's easy to find and if I remember correctly some of it has English pages as well.
Looking at your profile, you shouldn't have any problem on even the hardest VFs unless exposure freaks you out. I've soloed plenty when on family holidays in France and it's an easy way of getting into some spectacular positions when you've got nobody else to climb with.
