the partner for this doesn't climb loads and Fr6a/b is about his limit
Quote from: Yossarian on December 03, 2021, 10:36:24 amthe partner for this doesn't climb loads and Fr6a/b is about his limit Is it your son?
Just back from Montserrat with mixed views.It was a nice place. Busy on the weekends, mainly on the single pitch. The rock is bullet hard conglomerate and there are loads of routes (1000+) to go at.However, we found it to be:- sandbagged on the single pitch stuff- hard to navigate, both finding routes and staying en-route. The routes mainly had a paucity of natural line, and the bolts are often so far apart (5m+ in places) that you just had to keep climbing until you stumbled across one, or not.- despite reading online that a single 70m rope would be fine for many routes, we got caught short on occasion.I'd say it just defies initial impressions. It looks like fun, low stress easy nav multipitch sport, but it's actually much more like bolted semi-alpine adventure trad. (despite the guide books and online posts saying "it's not as bad as it was in the 80s, really, it's not that scary...." The indistinct lines were really the most unappealing feature of the place.
I highly recommend Quiros in Asturias (North Spain)... Amazing rock, not polished. Well equipped.
Paul mentioned the Calanques. It's really beautiful but I found the rock quality and climbing a bit meh, amongst the worst cliffs I've climbed on in France. Also timings - I once went to Provence in early September thinking that September was the beginning of autumn, when what I should have thought is September is only just not August; it's a bit brutal down there. If you went later then Buoux might work as there is a surprising amount of easier graded stuff, tho I'm not sure how easy it actually is! Very easy access from the airport. There is also multipitch around Buis that is pretty good from what little I've done there.
Freyr in Belgium Stuff up 5 pitches long plus lots of single pitch stuff. Can be polished and run out but there’s always the beer and frites to console you if you have a bad day.
Verdon is incomparable so long as you can cope with abseiling.
Quote from: mrjonathanr on December 04, 2021, 01:10:59 pmVerdon is incomparable so long as you can cope with abseiling.Verdon absolutely one of my favourite places in the world BUT is hellish in summer unless you're in Ramirole the whole time. I was there this year in June and it was awful, super hot with loads of mosquitos. We did two classic multis whilst absolutely cooking and then bailed to Annot and then Ailefroide via Ceuse for a lap up Natilik (really recommended!).
I don't even know how you managed two! We've always gone at times when the camping is on the verge of closing and even then we're seeking out shade all of the time (and I've left a few of the techier/bolder things for deep Winter).
Quote from: MischaHY on December 06, 2021, 09:04:36 amQuote from: mrjonathanr on December 04, 2021, 01:10:59 pmVerdon is incomparable so long as you can cope with abseiling.Verdon absolutely one of my favourite places in the world BUT is hellish in summer unless you're in Ramirole the whole time. I was there this year in June and it was awful, super hot with loads of mosquitos. We did two classic multis whilst absolutely cooking and then bailed to Annot and then Ailefroide via Ceuse for a lap up Natilik (really recommended!).Fun fact: Palud means march/swamp in old French so mosquitos in La Palud sur Verdon is not surprising...I like to climb in Verdon in June. You have to start late of course. No point in rapping in before 2pm
Quote from: seankenny on December 03, 2021, 03:18:27 pmPaul mentioned the Calanques. It's really beautiful but I found the rock quality and climbing a bit meh, Which guide did you use? I think if you stick to the Rockfax stuff you'll be disappointed.
Paul mentioned the Calanques. It's really beautiful but I found the rock quality and climbing a bit meh,
The easy stuff at Buoux is still nails. Nat went up a whole number in terms of OS simply driving from there to Spain (i.e days later).
Yes, used the Rockfax. Going from memory we went to En Vau from Cassis and another area (Les Goudes I think) by driving from Marseilles. Does the rock get better the further into the Calanques one goes?
Also thinking about some easy multipitch in the future with the kids - I guess the ideal thing for this would be 3-4 pitches with ledges and a walk off vs having to ab down - but that's going to require securing a suitable adult until they're big enough to belay me.
Nice to see La Demande on your best of 2021 too jwi. I chickened out of doing this in the summer of 1998(?), largely because I'd had an epic at Les Vuardes a few days before, and when I heard it featured chimneys I had this picture in my head of damp, slippy, scary tunnels of death. But whilst consuming a lot of Youtube videos of various long routes around Europe I discovered that the chimneys are actually covered in holds, and occasionally feature helpfully positioned trees. Also, it looks a lot less exposed than lot of the other longer things in Verdon.
The Philippe Mussatto guidebook recommended by jwi turned up the other day, and is really good. Pretty tempted to go all in and get the second volume.
Have you tried ohm on multi pitch routes? I'm worried that it will be hard to unblock if the first bolt is far away or above a bulge. Also I would be concerned if the first bit is overhanging so that the rope cannot form an angle through the device.