Since writing this post the weather has improved a heck of a lot and we've finally been able to string together a few days of back to back climbing. Currently sat enjoying scrambled eggs and fresh French bread under clear blue skies. All is well in the world.
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The rain is once again lashing it down outside, bouncing off my tent as I lay warm and dry tucked up inside, wrapped in my down sleeping bag. Just another summer moutain storm passing through the valley, that seems to last a lifetime.
Today however it has fallen on a rest day for us so we can't complain and it should hopefully cool things down to make good conditions tomorrow at the crag. Hard to believe just a few hours ago we were chilling in the hot french sunshine, eating a leisurely lunch, drinking coffee and reading. Letting our aching bodies recover from the previous few days of climbing and walking. The perfect way to spend a rest day out here.
The days are flying by however, as they usually do on these kind of ventures. When there is nothing to think or worry about other than getting up each morning to go climbing, they very soon begin to blend into one and no sooner than you realise, that thing we call time has eaten into well into the halfway point of your trip. It is an inevitable thing that we have to put up with but when all said and done we cannot have any complaints really. We are in the south of France after all, climbing on some of the best limestone around!
My time here has continued in the same vein as it started and I could not be happier with how things are going. I only wish we were staying longer so that it would be possible to really get stuck into some of the harder routes. There are sooo many it boggles my mind! For now I'm quite content to keep ticking my way through the crag classics, and maybe by next week it might be time to check out something a notch harder...
Yesterday was a pretty special day. We awoke slightly earlier, had the usual breakfast and set off up the hill to Cascade, hoping for cooler tempertures. It was certainly much better up there than the previous visit and our psyche quickly shot up a gear. On the agenda today was the uber bouldery 8b 'Violente Illusion'. The route is a game of two halves. A super sharp and powerful V9 boulder problem guards a brilliant 7b+ route above, on big buckets and perfect scollops of limestone. I tried without success a few days previous, in less than ideal conditions, which very quickly sped up the process of destroying my skin. After a warmup on the upper section I set off for a burn on the lower boulder but after 2 or 3 failed attempts decided to change things up. Sometimes you just know something isn't going to work so I reverted to another method, and with this my foot positions automatically found footholds that before seemed impossible to use. I stuck the crux slap into the groove virtually static. It was such a breakthrough for me I could barely contain my excitement. I lowered down for a brief rest and within a few minutes found myself climbing through the boulder problem and hanging out on the biggest bucket of a hold you can possibly imagine. From here I was left to enjoy the upper wall just as the warm midday sun started to sneak its way onto the crag.
The send train continued later on when my South African friend, Jamie, managed to send his route too. 'Face de Rat' one of the best 8a+'s at the crag, featuring perfectly sculptured holds, perfect moves with one or two typical spicey Ceuse runouts to keep things even more interesting along the way. I came so desperately close to flashing this thing a few days prior, falling at the final hurdle where with a little more luck on my side things may have been different... However it succumbed with ease on my second go and while slightly dissapointed it was just great to feel that fitness again and clip the anchor on another fantastic route. Big thanks to Michelle for guiding us up the wall with inch perfect beta!
We finished the day over at the Berlin sector and just as we were preparing to make our way down to the campsite for dinner we were lucky enough to witness Ondra take down Realisation. Very inspiring to see such an awesome feat of climbing from someone so crazy strong and dedicated. The perfect way to end the day!
The King shakes out after nailing the final boulder problem crux of Chris Sharma's world famous route 'Realisation' (9a+)
With a little luck this rain will stop soon and we'll be able to climb again tomorrow. For now though there is not much else to do other than get fired up for the next routes on the list, play some Candy Crush and read Sherlock Holmes!
Cheers for checkin in :)
