I can feel my heart
pounding, partly with the physical exertion of 45 minutes of steep
up-hill walking and partly with excitement, in a few moments I will
be arriving at the base of one of the best crags in the world. After
completing the necessities of dropping my heavy sack, stripping down
to my boxers and sitting in the shade while my body dries off,
attention soon turns to the beautiful panorama of lush alpine
foothills and then up at the multi-coloured streaked limestone,
curving gently and stretching as far as I can see in both directions.
The rock is generally slightly overhanging and is often well adorned
with generous pockets. Climbing at Ceuse, really does feel a bit like
being a child in a 2Km long 100m high sweet shop!
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| Home sweet home |
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| Nearly there! Chris nearing the end of the walk-in |
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| First view of Ceuse's impressive Biographie sector |
Chris and I have just
returned from a weeks climbing in Ceuse, it was the first time either
of us had visited this world class venue. A world class
venue obviously attracts many of the world's best climbers; we were often left feeling like beginners! Some guy called Chris Sharma was there trying a tricky
looking route called Jungle Boogie which Adam
Ondra recently got the first ascent of a few weeks ago. Chris came across as being a nice guy, always taking the time to say hi to everyone at the crag. Saying hello to people was a bit of a gamble, involving a quick guess of their nationality; Italian, German, Czech, Spanish, French, Irish and British all featured in roughly equal numbers.
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| Left hand side of Demi Lune sector |
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| Panorama looking out from the Les Maitres du Monde sector |
With so many world
class routes to choose from it was hard to know where to start. At the
end of each day, even though we'd done quite a few routes compared to
an average cragging day, we always felt wiped out long before the
enthusiasm dwindled. Being up at the crag for around 1pm meant we
were often some of the first people there, partly due to most of the
crag not coming into the shade until the afternoon. A normal climbing
day for us then ended when it was nearly dark at about half nine,
making the most of the coolest hours of the day.
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| Lowering off after the last route of the trip which was also one of the best - Files de Lumiere 7a |
Route choice was
decided by what was free and what was dry on the first couple of
days, although we were told this was actually a quiet time for Ceuse.
The popularity of the crag did make jumping on routes easier though since many routes already had the quick draws in place; it sometimes
felt like a waste of effort to have carried ours up there! One of the
routes we tried on the first day was Bourinator, a classic and
savagely steep 8a roof climb. Lacking in raw power after months of long stamina European sport climbing, trying the route a couple of times left me
feeling totally destroyed. With many other routes to choose from I
decided not to spend any more time on it. Chris however bagged it on
the last day, bon effort!
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| Bourinator! |
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| Wild bat-hang 'rest' on Bourinator! |
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| Happy boy! Chris celebrating after climbing Bourinator |
For the rest of the week I chose to play to
my strengths and enjoyed onsighting plenty of amazing routes. By the end of the week I had clocked up 3 7a's, 3 7a+'s, 2 7b's and 1 7b+ onsight. I did succeed on a quick redpoint of
the classic route Changement de Look 7c, which was an intense
sequence memory exercise. The crux of the route was a long, sustained
and complex sequence on small pockets.
The climbing at Ceuse
combined with the walk-in and out each day makes for a physically
draining experience, people mainly choose to climb only 2 or 3 days
on without a rest. After 3 days on we certainly felt like we were
ready for some rest, so we headed south to visit some friends in
Sanary sur Mer on the Mediterranean and indulged in leisurely
activities such as swimming, going out on a speed boat and plenty of
eating!
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| Actively resting! |
After heading back to
Ceuse the final few days flew by. Most climbers we spoke to were
staying in Ceuse for at least three weeks, some were there for
months! After sampling the climbing I can see why people stay for so
long, there are just so many good routes and trying to redpoint harder
routes takes time. I think the minimum length of any future trips to
Ceuse will need to be at least two weeks!
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| Enjoying the sunset from the summit of Ceuse after ascending the Via Ferrata up the crag at the end of the day |
