I (Matt) first heard of the Verdon Gorge years before I even knew what rock climbing was from watching the film The Fingertip Phenomenon where Ron Fawcett climbs in the Verdon Gorge (still available on YouTube for those interested). That memory sat in the back of my head until having taken up rock climbing I got the opportunity to climb there in 2012 as part of a three month climbing trip around Europe.

That day I climbed La Demande (6a – apparently!) [see pic of me looking much younger]. It was a fantastic experience; though Clare likes to remind me that she has never seen me as exhausted as when I staggered back into the hotel room that evening. And before you ask, no I will not be soloing those final polished chimneys as Ron does in the film. And there the story ended until earlier this year Kylie suggested that we visit Verdon for two days as part of a climbing holiday in south France.

After some research, the plan for the day was to abseil in from the Belvedere Dent d’Aire and climb back to the same point by joining the five pitch ‘Pas de Prelude pour Herve’ (6a+) into the three pitch ‘Gringo Loco’ (6a). This route was selected due to promises of ‘reasonable bolting’, minimal route finding issues (the abseil point is just 25m from the car park) and it gaining three stars while not being too polished. Happily all of these things turned out to be true. 

The weather forecast had been touch-and-go in the lead-up, but thanks to a few sun dances and other incantations, we were rewarded with two days of warm, stable weather – perfect for a long multi-pitch outing.

We based ourselves in Castellane, a 30 minute windy drive from the Belvedere Dent d’Aire. On the evening we arrived we drove over to scout the route and make the next day smoother.  As it only took 2 mins to find the abseil point (which even more conveniently was marked with the route name!) we also lowered in to have a top rope and get a feel for the exposure/ climbing grades. As often is the case the anticipation of the exposure was much worse than once committed.

Thursday was a beautiful, although pretty hot, day and at 8:30am we started abseiling. Four long abseils and two hours later we were at the base of the route with the main difficulty being locating the third abseil station and the bushwacking through the woods trying to find our line of bolts. What followed was eight pitches of very good quality, well bolted, technical climbing on great rock with memorable bits being:

–          Kylie very capably leading the trickiest move of the day. On the 5c pitch obviously…

–          Some distinctly non-6a+ crimping being required to get through the start of one pitch. As a general comment the grades felt pretty stiff, certainly when considering the cumulative effect of multiple pitches, but not outrageous for grades in France.

–          A piece of very sketchy downclimbing when I followed the wrong bolt line at one point. The mistake was realised when 6m above the last bolt I could see nowhere to go. Looking at the topo later, I still have no idea what I was following as there is no other route marked.

–          The most photogenic piece of climbing [see pic] also being the most unpleasant as the crack was greasy and too thin for my fingers.

–          A heart-stopping moment when a massive block crashed down a nearby gully – courtesy of local guides developing a new route.

–          Several nice chats with two friendly Belgians (Koun and Hero) who were following us up the route.

–          Our walkie-talkie experiment resulting in us spending most of the day listening to French radio chatter.

–          Amazing views of the griffon vultures gliding on the thermals close to the upper belay stances in the early evening. I think they were checking out to see if there would be any lean climber meat on offer from a stranded party (us!)…

Roughly 11 hours after started we arrived back at the top of the Gringo Loco abseil station, much to the vultures’ disappointment.  Both of us were knackered but very happy (and a tiny bit relieved) after an amazing day out. Before the trip the plan had been mooted that we should do a second multi-pitch route the following day, however common sense (and sore muscles over breakfast) prevailed. Instead, we sampled the single pitch climbing and helped Anglo-French relations by giving a lift to two lost French climbers who were wandering around the woods unsure how to get back to their car.

All-in-all a fantastic couple of days and we cannot wait to return. Perhaps we should set up a WhatsApp group…

And then

After the time in the Verdon Gorge Clare joined us for more climbing based in the Buis-Les-Barronnes area (Haute Provence). Sadly, the power of the sundance waned and we spent the time dodging thunderstorms and wet streaks on the rock when we could climb. Still we can report that this seems like a good low-mid grade climbing destination with well maintained crags and plenty of climbing nearby. Orpierre is also only ~1 hour away.

Write up: Matt Alexander

CMC members attending: Matthew Alexander, Kylie Rivkin, and Clare Meehan