Farewell to Provence - or is it Au Revoir?
I can’t believe I’ve been getting around to updating this blog for two months! In my defence, I have been pretty busy with things. I spent all of February and three weeks of March staying at Ollie Ryall’s gite near Buis-les-Barronies. I was joined by Chris Singer and the mission was to check out all the local climbing areas, and start work on a selective guidebook. Much of the time was spent checking out routes, taking crags photos, snapping the odd action shot when the opportunity arose, and then getting back and immediately getting to work drawing photo-topos, maps, and writing the text. It’s surprisingly tiring work making a guidebook! The biggest surprise has been the reaction of French climbers who sussed what I was doing – I had feared that I’d get some flak, but au contrare, everyone I spoke to could hardly wait. At the moment the area is covered by an assortment of hard-to-find local topos, and if you want to check out a lot of areas, it works out surprisingly expensive! The one guide that does try to cover the area, Avignon Soleil is, well… no comment.
So, day’s lead to weeks, and weeks to months. I’m now based in Pierrelongue, just down the road from Buis, about ten minute’s from St. Leger (amazing place). The book is coming along niceley, but in the last week I’ve realised how much work I need to do to do justice to the Dentelles – a big areas about thirty minutes to the west. Also, I’ve agreed to expand the book to cover a number of very well-known areas further east. I will be back in the UK in May for my annual season of coaching in the Peak District, then back out here for more climbing and photography.
Highlights of the trip, from a climbing perspective are hard to sum up. There have been so many superb routes, the quality of climbing here is so high, you could take all the best sport climbing in the UK and it wouldn’t fill half of St. Leger, and hardly anyone’s even heard of St. Leger! In many ways, my climbing has taken a bit of back seat in order to check out the routes, most of which range from F5 to F7a, but I did have one very good day at St.Leger with the Hamer boys Sam and Ed, where they gave me all the beta on an 8a (actually 8a+ in the topo) and I got a flash shortly before Ed redpointed it – his first 8a! My most intense moment was pulling off an onsight of a route at Combe Obscure – Jingo Wobbly actually described the route with a point of aid – so in the name of research I tried to free it – thr crux was the hardest micro-edge pull I’ve ever done, every joint in my hard cracked mid-move and I let out the loudest power-scream ever! But I got it – just! Afterwards I found a topo online where the route was given F7c+ - pretty tough for a one move slab route, and not exactly my forté. The best week was the week the sun shone, and Chris was joined by two friends from Vancouver (Erin and Carrie) and I was joined by Audrey Seguy who I’d been ice climbing with in Chamonix earlier this year. Audrey was climbing well, as usual, and though she wasn’t focussed on grade goals, flashed two 7b+s at Malaucene, I had such a good day at Malaucene that day that I changed my mind and decided to put it in the guide after all! The photo I took of Audrey on one of the 7b+s might have had something to do with it!
Just another few days in Pierrelongue before Chris and I hit the road again. We’re heading to Font, but may well take in a few more places on the way. Then it will be back to the UK. My coaching diary for May is filling nicely, so with a bit of money, it won’t be long before I’m back down here!