UKBouldering.com
places to visit => abroad => Topic started by: a13c on September 08, 2019, 04:31:00 pm
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This August I went on a family holiday to the Dordogne, I figured I'd have a Google and see what bouldering there was in the area...
UKC had a couple of places listed and this place seemed to be the best as it had plenty of tree cover to hide from the 30+ degree heat!
The bouldering is on some giant blocks that presumably fell off the cliff on the other side of the road (bolted) it is like climbing in the jungle on pockets on some amazingly shaped rocks.
There are 87 problems listed in the guide "Escalade en Perigord" including some projects. A lot of the problems are quite tall and some have questionable landings but there's quite a few that have lovely flat landings. I don't think it's seen much action for the last few years as the tops of the boulders we're really overgrown and I had to scoop a lot of spider webs out of the pockets.
There was a camp site in the really pretty village 5 minutes from the crag but we didn't stop there so I can't comment on the facilities.
I've put a video together of the day.
https://youtu.be/pk7q0SMQVhk
Hopefully it helps anyone out who should find themselves on a family trip to the home of the troglodyte cave dwellings looking for some boulders!
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Thanks for this - my folks have just booked a place in Dordogne for next summer (assuming I’ll actually be able to travel from HK by then - still 21 days quarantines on arrival here...) so had been searching for pebble wrestling opportunities
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Dordogne is a lovely part of France.
La Forge du Diable, including the bouldering, might be closed (due to the déconventionnement of the crags by FFME). Hopefully the access to La Forge du Diable will be sorted out anyway, if it hasn't been already.
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What does déconventionnement mean?
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What does déconventionnement mean?
The answer is long, boring, tortured and more.
An answer abridged beyond usefulness:
The french climbing federation, FFME, used to write contracts, conventionnements, with landowners to assure access to crags.
Mountain guide pulls off a block on an easy single pitch sport route and injures "client"
The guides insurance company sues FFME, as responsible for the safety of the "sporting arena" and wins. FFME must pay €1,6 million to injured belayer.
FFME panics, pay out and give up in courts, remember that their new core mission is indoor climbing and starts to dissolve the contracts.
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FFS
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I can't remember where I saw it but I think I saw a link to a Facebook post saying the crag was banned when I was there (I read it once home!)... There were a couple doing routes and I spent a few hours bouldering and didn't speak to anyone else so I'm not sure how tightly the ban is policed.
A local guy commented on the video and linked some other videos to local spots and he didn't mention the ban, but I'm not sure how active he is at the moment.
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It may well have been sorted, I checked briefly (on camp to camp and facebook) and could not find any info from 2021. Maybe check with Périgord Escalade?
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I had a messaging chat with an expat Uk climber who lives in the area, in February this year. He confirmed that the routing crag was currently shut but didn't know whether the bouldering was banned. I know that's not very helpful, but it means that getting proper info might be difficult if one of the locals doesn't know either.