Sanctuary

Ceuse. Two words. HOLY CRAP! Quite possibly the most intimidating place I’ve ever been. The walk in is a complete mission. One hour of straight up, mostly on shale. No breaks in the rise, no rest stops to catch your breath, just straight up a massive hill to the sensational crag above. Upon catching your breath at the top it is instantly taken away from you again by the sheer awesomeness of the crag and then again by the view below as you turn around. It was a truly surreal moment. 

The level of climbing there is beyond anything we have experienced at home. Random dudes everywhere just jumping on 8b’s and 8c’s like they are nothing. Young and old, men and women; all projecting things that look impossible. We found some of the world’s hardest and most famous climbs and were left in awe of their lines. As it was already almost dark, we headed back down the mountain, excited to get an early start the next morning. 

Happy Birthday to me! Birthday in Ceuse - Yewwww! We started with the hike in again, it didn’t get any easier but I figured I was earning my wine later that afternoon. We had breakfast and coffee at the crag, again, just an epic view. Excited, I jumped on a 5 as a warm up. HA. Warm UP!!! I couldn’t get past the third bolt and that was after falling off the first about 7 times. It was so polished it was crazy. When you climb at world class crags you have to expect there has been a super amount of traffic and this was very evident here. I was in tears and scared to death. Rich knocked a 6a+ just to get a feel for the rock but I had already pulled birthday rank and we headed down to the base so I could start my birthday picnic by the lake. 

Officially my best birthday ever. We spent the afternoon swimming in the lake with Ceuse as our backdrop. We had decided that today was going to be our ‘When in Rome’ (or France) day and have fondue for dinner. I had googled the recipe and we bought some fondue forks and had home made gas stove fondue by the lake and a beautiful bottle of white wine. It was epic. Two hours later however it was not so epic. Perhaps we should have weened ourselves onto the cheese before going the whole hog. It had been 3 years since I’d eaten cheese and I can happily say I’ll wait another 3 to try it again but regardless, it was an awesome evening and watching the sun go down behind the mountain was breath taking. 

We headed to Orpierre so I could get a better grasp on some of the less intimidating climbs. Did some awesome climbs and felt like I got my groove back but after a few days of sun stroke (you get beaten by the sun there) and sleepless nights due to the world’s loudest church bell that goes off not only on the hour but every half, we had only one thing on our minds.... Gorge Du Verdon! 

As a self confessed water child, I was so excited to see the green water created by the limestone cliffs. As a climber, the grandeur of those cliffs is mind blowing. It was a visual explosion of epicness and I felt as if we were driving into a painting. The colours so bright and vivid I felt it couldn’t actually be real. We had bought bikes in Orpierre and decided to get a lay of the land. 11km’s up hill (everything seems to be up hill). It was a great view from the top and a very fun ride back down. We hired kayaks and took the scenic route up the Gorge. There was a million other people on the river but we didn’t even care as the sights are just spectacular. We found the cave where we had seen a bunch of youtube videos posted about the climbs, we swam through the little rapids and I got to dance in a waterfall.  The water that flows through the waterfall comes from the mountain and is much cooler than the river. It was amazing. 

Our first climb was epic. A steady first pitch followed by the scariest traverse we’ve ever done. I don’t think I’ve ever breathed so heavily in my life but again, the view made it all worthwhile. All you can see and hear for miles is the river running through the Gorge and the cliffs that surround it. I was devastated to have forgotten my camera but it is an image that will never leave me. Unfortunately, we had to bail off the route due to an incoming storm. An impromptu wrap of a tree but we weren’t quick enough. We hiked out in the rain, our gear sopping but our spirits high. This is what we live for. We had to have a rest day as all the gear needed time to dry so did the famous Belvedere Drive and the tunnel walk we had also seen in many a video. This was an amazing day. We jumped off the track, hiked down as far as you can then scurried along the edge of the gorge until we found a nice private little nook to go for a nudie swim. The water was freezing. Like snatch your breath away, instantly cold to your bones freezing! Luckily the sun was beating down so we layed on the rocks like lizards trying to get some feeling back. Clearly though, we didn’t scurry far enough off track as not long after a canyoning guide came around the corner with his client and we had to make a quick exit.

We spent the next couple of days doing hectic walks ins and climbing. One track (albeit the wrong one we soon discovered) had us tumbling down a dry river bed and carving our way through the forest trees. A super fun adventure as we had just read about the vipers and adders in the region at the time it was also quite a cautious one! Wrecked, it as time to move on but Verdon is definitely a place we will be returning to next year and I can not wait! 

Misty Mountain Hop

So we up and bailed to Chamonix a few weeks back in search of work. An absolutely beautiful drive that was only slightly tainted by the 100 Euro’s in tolls it cost us to get there. (The tolls in France are ludicrous however one may question if it is worthwhile taking the non toll roads to save some cash as you generally end up losing a good few hours in time. I’ll come back to that later.) Once we hit the Alps though, we found ourselves driving in complete silence, jaws dropped open, eyes wide and just grinning in astonishment. We drove through a series of tunnels and as we exited each one, the views just got better and better. Our silence was momentarily broken by random shouts of cursive disbelief and the smiles just got bigger and bigger.

We had been told by some British guys we met that Lac des Galliands had a pretty nice view, was safe to crash a night or two and was close to the main sport crag; so that is where we were heading. Pulling up next to the lake and stepping out to the site of Mont Blanc standing proudly before us is a moment I will not soon forget. We just sat and stared at it for an hour or so until it got dark then went to bed, still smiling. 

Next day we hit the town in search of gear and guide books and to talk to some of the locals about work. The gear stores are insane. Every manufacturer you could think of in one street plus a couple of giant superstores. I wanted everything! Surprisingly, it wasn’t too expensive either. Due to the fact that ‘End of Season’ was in 3 weeks, there was sales in every store. I could have spent a fortune but definitely would have been worth it. End of Season however, also means end of work. Add to that the fact that we haven’t been skiing since before we could walk, nor are we perfectly fluent in French yet and our search for work came to an abrupt halt. It’s a shame as we had heard so many good things about the work there but alas it is just not our time. 

So we decided to at least climb whilst we were there. One of the main sport crags was right across from the lake which was awesome for accessibility but also meant that it was super crowded. I’ve never had to ‘line up’ before to climb outdoors. We did a couple of climbs at the quieter walls but were super keen for an epic multi. Excited we scoured the guide book only to discover that every big multi had to be accessed by cable car plus an approach. And the cable cars are not cheap, especially for two people and we’d most likely pay almost double as chances are we couldn’t fit the in climb in one day and would have to bivvy it and finish the following day. We looked at hiking out which would have been epic but my ankle was still too swollen and tender from my 2 rolling incidents to attempt it. We did a mini hike to see how I’d go on the terrain. We hit about 2000mtrs elevation and the views were awesome, totally rad experience but man was I hobbling on the return. I was devastated and feeling a little deflated so we decided to continue our adventure further south. 

Back to the tolls. We decided to try and skip the 100 Euro’s to get us back out and put ‘no tolls’ into the GPS. The first bit of the drive was great. We went through a bunch of the smaller more boutique ski towns which were just beautiful and the wooden houses that dot the rolling hills were just like out of the movies. It was so pretty. Then we had to haul the van over 3 km’s uphill. Winding and winding and winding on a tiny narrow little road. I honestly didn’t think we would make it. We hit the top with a sigh of relief and drove for about a km when we read a sign saying the next 9 km were downhill. ARE YOU KIDDING ME, we just got up here? So down and down and down we went again on a super windy road, so constantly having to brake and you could feel the air getting colder and colder and colder. It was actually a very cool drive and the valley was beautiful, just a shame it was so taxing on the car. For that reason, we now pay the just pay the tolls instead.