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Feastdays in the Gorges du Loup | May 2005
Actually I wanted to go to the Frankenjura, but the wheather turned out to be bad, so I decided to drive with Fuzzy to the south, where it´s supposed to be warm in May.
We are going to the Gorges du Loup, near to Nice, for three days, Fuzzy has already been there, and he said it was nice.
The guidebook tells us there´s lots of hard routes to find, but I had already heard they were not very natural: lots of drilled holes in big overhanging tufa-filled walls.
I still try to persuade Fuzzy to go to another (more natural) crag, like Osp or something, but he doesn´t want to hear it, although the wheather forecast keeps saying bad things...
We sleep on a nice campside, that is stuffed with dutch tourists, but there is a lovely douche. That´s a good thing, because it´s way cold, and we haven´t found the sun neither.
Luckily I took two books: ´the wizard of Oz´ for Fuzzy, and ´Selected Tales from Poe´ for me, that´s the only thing you can do on a camping, I can´t imagine the dutch oldies aren´t bored here...
The next morning the wheather seems a bit better, and we´re off to the rocks. ´Route barrée´, nice one, there has to be an avalanche again. We still drive on, because to foot it too long, and we still wanna climb, eh? No problemo, half an hour later, we´re underneath the big face of ´Deversé`, looks goody!
It´s dripping everywhere, it has rained a lot here, let´s see if there´s to climb.
We warm up in the only easy route with big jugs, a powerfull 7c, and hell what, we do the 8a prolongiation after it also. It´s nice cold for this time of year, and the wheather turned badly, it´s raining cats and dogs now, but we stay dry because of the big roof above us.
Mister Bindhmmer is also there, but apart from us, there no living soul.
Fuzzy and I try some routes, in the grades 8b+, and 8c, that have all been downgraded recently. They´re not easy at all, with some wet holds, and it surprises me how phisical this stuff is, with lots of drilled holes, and barely no footholds. Today is not gonna be our day.
The next day the skin is already hurting, but we have only three days, so we´re climbing three days! It´s only working out better then yesterday, and we try an 8b+ that goes on in an 8c+. Fuzzy does it after a few tries, with a new method for the crux, we found (now it´s maybe more 8c), and when I arrive on the 8b+ chain, have a rest, and continue, the foothold breaks off, end of story for me...
Slightly frustrated I hop into another 8b+, a short one, less chipped this time, with way long moves on good tufas.after a few tries I climb this one also, but then I´m kind of tired.
Fuzzy is running through an 8c, and he treis the 9a end part, but it´s not working out.
We take all the quickdraws we left all over the whole crag, make some photo´s, and seek the warmth of the car, to drive home.
Nice weekend though, but next time a crag where you can use your feet, and where it´s dry :)
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