French Files, Part 3, Verdon continued

Okay, I have been slow to blog, because now I am back home in Squamish, and have been loving climbing here, mountain biking with the hound, and catching up with good friends...but here goes with some more French climbing.

So the next route on tap for us was Pichenbule, a 10 pitch classic in the main part of the gorge. We rapped in under cloudy skies, but thought nothing of it. After battling with another round of bad French guide book beta, we finally found the start. A few pitches of 5.10-5.11- climbing took us back to a big ledge system where we had rapped down to for La Demande. However this time when we got there the rain was starting to fall. Not wanting to rap down to the gorge bottom in the rain and walk out and hitch hike back 15km to the top of the gorge, we tried to claw our way to the top via a very well bolted 6 pitch 5.6.

Halfway up, it stopped raining, so we decided to rap BACK down to the ledge and continue the route. Well, we got 1 pitch back up on Pichenbule, and then the dark clouds of doom started rolling in. Oops. We abandoned our way onto another route that was a 5.9 or so. Luckily for us it was a bolted hand crack, and as the skies opened up to rain and hail, I clawed us out for 3 pitches of sopping wet limestone. Lightening was cracking all over as well, keeping nerves on edge. We dragged ourselves over the rim safe and sound, albeit wet, but we didn't have to walk and hitch hike home!

The next day dawned clear and we rapped down to the halfway ledge to try and finish the route. We did 6 pitches of brilliant, hard as nails 11+ face climbing, but were starting to feel tired after 20 pitches over the last 2 days. We fired the rest of the route and retreated to the gite for a well deserved rest day and some quality french wine!

Here are some shots...I will do one more post about the rest of our Verdon time!

You think those clouds mean it will rain? The base of Pichenbule

Pitch 2 Pichenbule

Pitch 3 before the rain

Luckily for us the cracks are bolted and you can climb them in the rain

The weather the next day...lots of folks out enjoying the sun!

The French Files, Part 2...the Verdon!

We left the Gorges du Tarn and headed straight for the multi-pitch adventures of the Verdon Gorge. Single pitch sport cragging is great, but the memories really are made on the all day 10 pitch routes for me. Hanging on the walls, vultures circling below, azure blue river pounding away in the gorge 1,000 feet below you - this is what climbing is all about for me! Oh yeah, and did I mention it is a paradise in the south of France? Can you say amazing wine for 4€, great local produce and anamazing gite we were staying in that was only 23€ a night, totally solar powered and beautiful? Life is getting better every day.

I will break down the Verdon trip into a couple of posts, each focusing on the big routes we did. After countless hours of internet research, it seemed as thought there were 3 pretty classic long routes to tackle, at a good spread of grades as well.

Our first day we decided to try our hand at La Demande, 6a+, 400m. This was the original route that climbed the tallest section of cliff at the Verdon Gorge, as was kind of like first ascent of El Cap for the French in 1968. Being the major weakness of the biggest cliff, the climbing felt right at home being from North America and having done my time on the trad classics: chimney's and cracks, BUT with tons of bolts! I love France!

So in classic Verdon style, we drove up to the top of the cliff, walked 2 minutes to the rap station, and abseiled down 400m to the gorge bottom. We then walked 15 minutes to the base of our route and Voila, we were climbing. Being the first long route of the year for us, Jas and I were psyched to start off mellow for us for a route graded 5.10. Pitches went well, the climbing was fun and it was not nearly as polished as I feared it might be.

Good times for us, and we felt warmed up to tackle the next big route in the gorge: Pichenibule...but that is for next week!

For now here are some photos...and if you want any info on the Verdon, check out this GREAT article from UK Climbing: http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=2076

Jas starts the 'approach'

The first few pitches of leaning cracks.

Jas follows the crux pitch (5 I think?)

Jas in the exit chimneys. 5.8 chimneys forever with bolts!

Back at home in our lovely Gite!