[i.munro]

Hi All. Has anyone recent experience of the Paris indoor scene and any recommendations.
I'm kind of hoping there's a Paris equivalent of Craggy Sutton somewhere?

Ta

[fried]

if you could describe Craggy Sutton, I might be able to offer some suggestions.

[i.munro]

Doh! Of course. The London walls , for me, all suffer from the same issues ( to paraphrase the old joke) they're overhot , overhumid and overcrowded ( to the point of being unsafe IMO ). Craggy is the exception ,it's generally excellently ventilated and being, frankly, a pig to get to it tends not to get unmanageably busy.
Anything like that anywhere .... ?

[fried]

Walls in Paris don't seem to be as overcrowded as London, but then I avoid peak times.

Blocbuster at la Defense is big, modern airy and only really busy weekends and lunchtimes and not that busy. Easy to get to from everywhere. Their older centre in Courbevoie has better training facilities the holds are much more realisticly polished but a bit more faff to get to.

Arkose in Montreuil is a good visit if you're at off peak times. Top out boulders, interesting setting. They have a newer centre in Nation which seemed convenient. I went once and hated it, full of bobos and their kids. Thin matting too. They have lots of pics of food on their Google reviews.

Hardbloc in Alfortville is worth the trek, I haven't been for a long time and certainly best if you want to actually train.

All the walls are hot in the summer and cold in the winter.

[i.munro]

Walls in Paris don't seem to be as overcrowded as London, but then I avoid peak times.
Hardbloc in Alfortville is worth the trek, I haven't been for a long time and certainly best if you want to actually train.
All the walls are hot in the summer and cold in the winter.

Thanks for the info.
If only off-peak was an option :-(
Hardbloc is next on my list to try. Reviews saying simply "loin, trop loin" sounded promising.
If that's crap as well then I'll go for Blocbuster next.
I tried Arkose Nation this week (nearest to work) & it was like a sauna when it was snowing ouside I dread to think what it's like in summer.

[mrjonathanr]

Reviews saying simply "loin, trop loin" sounded promising.

Is that irony? “Far, too far” doesn’t sound so promising to me.

[i.munro]

Nope. I'm looking , among other things, for less mad levels of overcrowding. I got this in London by going to a wall that was roughly 25 mins from the nearest public transport on foot, partly through a muddy wood (i.e. completely inacessible to the average Londoner) so that review sounds promising to me. A mention of wolves would be even better but that's a lot to hope for :-)

[fried]

Yeah, it's pretty crazy getting to Hardbloc, it's at least 10 mins walk from the metro.

[joel182]

Karma is a short 40 minute train from Gare de Lyon to Fontainebleau-Avon then a half hour walk, if for some reason you're desperate to recreate that 'getting to Craggy Sutton' feeling.

[ghisino]

for training, in terms of setting and training tools, when i lived in paris my favourite facilities were antrebloc and blocbuster courbevoie.

i dunno how's antrebloc these days but yars ago it featured a burly training style and an interesting atmosphere. crowded at peak hours, but in an enjoyable way.

[i.munro]

Hardbloc in Alfortville is worth the trek, I haven't been for a long time and certainly best if you want to actually train.

Good recommendation thanks. It was scruffy and old-school so I fitted right in, being old and scruffy.
It is a bit of a trek but if that's the price of not landing on idiots?

Karma is a short 40 minute train from Gare de Lyon to Fontainebleau-Avon then a half hour walk, if for some reason you're desperate to recreate that 'getting to Craggy Sutton' feeling.

Sadly I can't do that as Karma is a pleaseant 20 min walk from my flat through the park so doesn't give me that 'getting to Craggy Sutton'feeling.
Much more sadly what's at the end isn't worth the journey in fact I wouldn't bother if it was actually inside my flat.
To be fair it looks like a good lead wall & that seems to be what the locals use it for. Such a shame!

[fried]

Hardbloc in Alfortville is worth the trek, I haven't been for a long time and certainly best if you want to actually train.

Good recommendation thanks. It was scruffy and old-school so I fitted right in, being old and scruffy.
It is a bit of a trek but if that's the price of not landing on idiots?

Karma is a short 40 minute train from Gare de Lyon to Fontainebleau-Avon then a half hour walk, if for some reason you're desperate to recreate that 'getting to Craggy Sutton' feeling.

Sadly I can't do that as Karma is a pleaseant 20 min walk from my flat through the park so doesn't give me that 'getting to Craggy Sutton'feeling.
Much more sadly what's at the end isn't worth the journey in fact I wouldn't bother if it was actually inside my flat.
To be fair it looks like a good lead wall & that seems to be what the locals use it for. Such a shame!

If you like scruffy and old-skool then Antrebloc should definetly be next on your visit list.

[joel182]

Sadly I can't do that as Karma is a pleaseant 20 min walk from my flat through the park so doesn't give me that 'getting to Craggy Sutton'feeling.
Much more sadly what's at the end isn't worth the journey in fact I wouldn't bother if it was actually inside my flat.
To be fair it looks like a good lead wall & that seems to be what the locals use it for. Such a shame!

Don't think I can offer too much sympathy if you're living within half an hour walk from Rocher d'Avon! I do find it strange how rubbish the bouldering at Karma is - I guess a lot of the local scene go to Bloc'age?

[i.munro]

Maybe I'm being a bit unfair. I arrived just before christmas & then there was a big comp in mid-Jan so maybe this is abnormal..
In fairness the setting seemed to be excellent as you'd expect.

My big problem was that all the holds are filthy. Half chalk, half some sort of grey dust. Two problems in your hands turn black. As result everything feels horribly slippery and insecure. Add in overcrowding and small kids running unsupervised under the problems  & I just end up backing off anything even faintly tricky.

[SA Chris]

Half chalk, half some sort of grey dust.

pof?