Vallee des Eaux Claires near Angoulême

[JamieG]

Bit of a long shot. But I am not too far away from Vallee des Eaux Claires near Angoulême in France and was wondering if anyway had climbed there before. Any knowledge on good routes etc at the crag in the 6s and low 7s. I see a guide is available, but wondered if anyone had a pdf of the main sectors. It looks like it has a good spread of routes including some really hard ones. Looks like a very pretty crag. Is it a good place to chill with the family? Cheers Jamie

 

[Paul B]

There's a really old Dr Topo video I ripped years ago for the area (it features a Frenchman completely losing it after repeatedly dropping a problem). The climbing (bouldering in this instance) looks pretty savage from memory (with monos everywhere).

 

[JamieG]

Cheers Paul. I’ll see if I can find the video.

 

[SA Chris]

Comme ca

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1KcoSPBiPQ

 

[tomtom]

 

[webbo]

I have been a couple of times but in the last century, however my recollection is that it will be very hot at this time of the year.

 

[JamieG]

My tendons hurt just watching that.

Yeah it’s very hot at the moment. Early morning job I reckon if we get out. Too hot in the afternoon.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Paul B]

Shame they've trimmed the outtakes/ending from the video.

Meeerrrrrrddddd! :shit:

 

[rginns]

I've got a guide, but I'm moving house in a month and it's packed in a box somewhere. Not useful at all, sorry...
How long are you there for? If it can wait a couple of days I can perhaps look it out for you.
Or at least try...

 

[JamieG]

Here for another week. Thanks for the offer, but don’t start unboxing to find it. Moving house is already stressful enough. Good luck.

 

[sdm]

I spent a day climbing there when on a family holiday about 8 years ago.

We went to a Go Ape style high ropes thing at St Georges de Didonne. The staff there at the time were mostly climbers so I arranged to meet them at the crag and they were my guides there for the day.

If you're staying to the West Angoulême, it might be worth dropping by there if you can't find a guide anywhere else.

St Georges de Didonne is worth a visit if the family like typical seaside towns. Probably very busy though.

I think we did some good 6s on the right side of the main wall that were quite good and we went to another area with lots of 6s and low 7s, my memory is all a bit hazy. The routes were generally quite fingery and bouldery.

 

[tomtom]

Climbing or no climbing - must be nice to be somewhere different for a couple of weeks. Enjoy Jamie & Family.

 

[JamieG]

Very nice. My parents live near Bordeaux. So we’ve gone to stay with them for a wee while. Lovely change from staring at my work on a laptop all day long. :boohoo:

 

[JamieG]

Had a lovely morning climbing here. Very nice place. Got hot quickly once the sun came round. Got my ass kicked. Routes we tried felt hard. Little sharp pocket pulling, with small feet. I guess this is the old school French style. Quite boulder starts too. Managed to get the guide in the little shop in the local village. Will definitely be back.