Matthieu was an exchange student and former climber who visited Auckland a few years ago, and while he was around we reminded him that yes, life does revolve around climbing..., Gary and I just had to visit him to make sure he hadn't forgotten again. It turns out that Matthieu is now a dedicated climber, and has managed to find himself a lovely girlfriend who also shares his obsession with climbing..., it seems that Matthieu is another AURAC success story.
At around 6-7pm, just as it was thinking about raining, I was walking along the road looking for a campsite, when I got a call from Gary saying that he an Matthieu had arrived in Moustier, so I told them to meet me at the police station, and turned around to walk back to town. Since I had given them a difficult place to find, I was able to make it there 5 minutes before them, and direct them toward the much anticipated public toilets.
Matthieu's car is set up for carrying loads of construction materials, and tools, rather than back seat passengers, so the ride out of Moustier saw us driving past a police station with Gary and me cosily sharing one seat. After the first night's camping, (a welcome rest, and a nice hot meal, thanks to some generous campers who actually had the correct type of gas bottle for our cooker), we headed out to sample our first taste of Verdon climbing. We passed through the town of ........ where we picked up the essentials for lunch; 2 baguettes, some cheese and some ham. along with chocolate, snacks, and a couple of bottles of water. We then realised that we had just missed the Vertigo climbing festival in Verdon. It may have been an amazing time, but we were thankfull to have plenty of space on the cliffs without other people getting annoyed at how terribly slowly we were climbing.
On the way to the crag, we stopped to ask for a little advice, this was a mistake, we had previously chosen an interesting route to start on, but had another recommended to us, little did we know that we would spend hours searching for the top of the route, and eventually abandon any hope of finding it in favor of climbing a single 50m pitch, with a 50m and a 70m rope. This would turn out to be a lead climb that Matthieu will never forget, swearing and screaming for slack while we told him he couldn't have any, and becoming a great source of amusement for the climbers on neighboring routes. The climb was scenic, in fact, beautiful, and quite an experience. That day, we had woken relatively early, in the hopes of getting plenty of climbing done, I didn't start my ascent until after 5:00pm. We learnt a lot that day, the value of good rope management, the difficulties one can face approaching routes from the top, and most importantly, how vital it is to carry you lunch with you, even if you're only climbing a short route that will be finished well before lunchtime.
That night, we went to a new campsite, and entertained the owner firstly when I appeared out from the boot of the car, and again when Gary had to unroll the tent to find his wallet. We enjoyed another welcome meal and sleep, waking late the next morning and heading for a somewhat easier to find route, Learning from previous experiences, we ate lunch before starting the climb, and only carried a (surprisingly heavy) bag with water, shoes for Gary and Matthieu, and warm clothes. That day ended happily, lotsa photos later, and thankfully, the large teetering block of rock in the carpark did not fall and crush someone's car.
That night, we were made aware of the climbers' camping ground, so our last night (and the only rainy evening) was spent at a camping ground decently equipped with a cooking shelter, and, normal toilets (we were getting somewhat sick of squatting to do our business) We were thinking of leaving the next morning, but thankfully we were convinced to have a go at a properly long route before driving to Ceuse. We started the day at a reasonable hour, drove to some of the most impressive, easily accessible cliffs I've ever seen. This time, we decided to risk leaving lunch until after the climb, a risk that paid off in the end. but we were still sure to carry some heavy water and some snacks. A long series of 4 abseils was followed by 100m and 5 sweet pitches of relatively easy climbing, (although a pack on your back, or a pair of full ropes does weigh you down somewhat, making the seemingly easy grade of 6a seem a little more challenging than it should have.
Easy pitches, with 15m runouts, heavy ropes, long days, and the discovery that “if It's run out, that means it must be easy” summaries a wonderful time at Verdon,, and Ceuse can wait for the next train trip.
Matthieu's car is set up for carrying loads of construction materials, and tools, rather than back seat passengers, so the ride out of Moustier saw us driving past a police station with Gary and me cosily sharing one seat. After the first night's camping, (a welcome rest, and a nice hot meal, thanks to some generous campers who actually had the correct type of gas bottle for our cooker), we headed out to sample our first taste of Verdon climbing. We passed through the town of ........ where we picked up the essentials for lunch; 2 baguettes, some cheese and some ham. along with chocolate, snacks, and a couple of bottles of water. We then realised that we had just missed the Vertigo climbing festival in Verdon. It may have been an amazing time, but we were thankfull to have plenty of space on the cliffs without other people getting annoyed at how terribly slowly we were climbing.
On the way to the crag, we stopped to ask for a little advice, this was a mistake, we had previously chosen an interesting route to start on, but had another recommended to us, little did we know that we would spend hours searching for the top of the route, and eventually abandon any hope of finding it in favor of climbing a single 50m pitch, with a 50m and a 70m rope. This would turn out to be a lead climb that Matthieu will never forget, swearing and screaming for slack while we told him he couldn't have any, and becoming a great source of amusement for the climbers on neighboring routes. The climb was scenic, in fact, beautiful, and quite an experience. That day, we had woken relatively early, in the hopes of getting plenty of climbing done, I didn't start my ascent until after 5:00pm. We learnt a lot that day, the value of good rope management, the difficulties one can face approaching routes from the top, and most importantly, how vital it is to carry you lunch with you, even if you're only climbing a short route that will be finished well before lunchtime.
That night, we went to a new campsite, and entertained the owner firstly when I appeared out from the boot of the car, and again when Gary had to unroll the tent to find his wallet. We enjoyed another welcome meal and sleep, waking late the next morning and heading for a somewhat easier to find route, Learning from previous experiences, we ate lunch before starting the climb, and only carried a (surprisingly heavy) bag with water, shoes for Gary and Matthieu, and warm clothes. That day ended happily, lotsa photos later, and thankfully, the large teetering block of rock in the carpark did not fall and crush someone's car.
That night, we were made aware of the climbers' camping ground, so our last night (and the only rainy evening) was spent at a camping ground decently equipped with a cooking shelter, and, normal toilets (we were getting somewhat sick of squatting to do our business) We were thinking of leaving the next morning, but thankfully we were convinced to have a go at a properly long route before driving to Ceuse. We started the day at a reasonable hour, drove to some of the most impressive, easily accessible cliffs I've ever seen. This time, we decided to risk leaving lunch until after the climb, a risk that paid off in the end. but we were still sure to carry some heavy water and some snacks. A long series of 4 abseils was followed by 100m and 5 sweet pitches of relatively easy climbing, (although a pack on your back, or a pair of full ropes does weigh you down somewhat, making the seemingly easy grade of 6a seem a little more challenging than it should have.
Easy pitches, with 15m runouts, heavy ropes, long days, and the discovery that “if It's run out, that means it must be easy” summaries a wonderful time at Verdon,, and Ceuse can wait for the next train trip.
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