High above the Champsaur Valley, in the southern French Alps, the plateau is shrouded in cream-coloured froth. But it’s not clouds I’m surrounded by; it’s sheep. Transhumance – the driving of animals from winter valleys to high summer pastures – is still practised here, and thousands of animals are swirling around me as I stand with the shepherd who will care for them, alone, for the next four months. The size of the flock is dizzying. I step backwards, to steady myself. And hit a wall. Because I’m not really in the high pastures. I’m at Cinémathèque, a slick new museum of mountain film in the town of Gap, and I’m trying out a virtual reality (VR) headset.
