The final film of Georgia (september 2014)
The tabarly traverse / la traversée Tabarly
The Tabarly traverse ( TD- / 6a / P2) The Tabarly traverse is one of the most classical traverse in the Calanques which stands out because of its panoramic view and the quality of the climb ( click here for more info ). For sure it is an adventure to climb this route. It is also stunning to enjoy the view over Cassis, the cliff of cap canaille and the kayak paddling at your feet. This climb makes you feel some mountaineering spirit as commitment, route finding, rope management, lack of equipment and wilderness. But this is also marked by the sunny and hot atmosphere. As it is a southern face, the temperature gets always hotter when the sun rises and the reflexion of the sun doesn’t let you rest ! We climbed the route together with Audrey on a sunny fall day (end of october) and as we departed…
Climbing an unknown ridge ! / Grimper une arête inconnue !
Day 1 : Mestia 1400m-Banguriani basecamp 3000m After 6 days of non stop mountaineering and trekking in georgian Caucasus, Florian and I offered ourself a rest day in Mestia, visited the small town and didn’t carry any bagpacks !!! what a joy ! Our 4 swiss ran up and down 2000m higher in about 5 hours … The weather forecast announced uncertain weather for the rest of the week except for tuesday. Our project over Ushba just slipped away from our mind because of weather and snow conditions ( heavy snow fall in high altitude). Therefore we had to find a new project. As we discussed with some locals we heard about banguriani summit which was supposed to be an easy one. On monday morning, we checked from the city and saw a ridge seen on pictures from the days before. it looked interesting enough even if it was snow…
Laila ‘attempt’
Second excursion of our trip in Georgia ( Caucasus massiv) Day 1 : 1400m – 1600m ( evening) On the 18th September as we just went down from Tetnuldi (day 4). We made a short break in Mestia, ate some water melon and dried some clothes. As the girl had to leave Georgia 3 days later it was their last chance to summit somewhere. Despite the really crap weather which was announced the 4 swiss decided to make a try to Laila ( an easy summit nearby). Florian and I decided to spare energy for the rest of the trip and given the very low chance to get enough good weather, we just joined with them to share time all-together and spend time in the mountain. Therefore our mountaineering equipment was released in the valley. We called again our driver of the morning and after 1 hour drive we we…
Caucasus : Tetnuldi ascent
Mid september , with five other friends from France ( Florian) and Switzerland ( Giulia, Roman, Pascal and Fränzi), we all met late in the night in Tbilissi ( Georgia). This country is a really small country stuck between Russia and Turkey and between two seas : the black sea to the west and the Caspian sea to the east. Early in the morning ( only 3/4 hours sleep later we jumped in a small minibus which drove us until Mestia, one of the main mountaineering village of this country. This village receives different valleys surrounded by a couples of 5000 and loads of 4000 summits. Day 1 ( Adishi – Base camp 1 ) The day after, an offroad car grabbed us with our 25/30 kg bagpacks filled up by 7 days of food, tents, sleepings bags and all the mountaineering gear. On the 15th of october we…
Oiseau de passage
Once again in valgaudemar valley ( hautes alpes). Perharps the valley that sounds the most like himalaya with such steep slopes on both side and still some (small but impressive) glaciers With Vincent , we spent the night in the “refuge de l’olan”. really nice atmosphere upthere, magnificent view and a hut watcher that makes the evening unforgetable ! Waking up at 4am …! We head up the route “ oiseau de passage” ( TD/6a/350m) at the summit of Olan with another ropeteam which will appears to be a great one making the ascent so cool thanks to their good mood ! The rest in pictures (in reverse chronology…)!
Bora bora traverse in the calanques of marseille
Last June when days were so long , we did the following route during one afternoon . This is one of the most panoramic traverse in the calanques as you climb always in front of most of the other calanques. The climb is between 2 m and 30 m above sea level which makes it so special. The climb itself is in its level quite demanding with some 6th graded pitches which you need to be carefull of as the move can be difficult to handle. As for all traverse, climbing in front or behind doesn’t really change the difficulty. Yet the commitment is quite low as you can escape at 2 different points . The next traverse ( Marie Jacqueline) can be climbed in a row but you need to depart earlier than we did 😉 ! It was really a nice climb together with Jacques and Pierre !…
Bloc session in la ciotat
Bloc session in may at a camping wall in la Ciotat (sout of France).
South face of coolidge peak/ Face sud du pic coolidge
Early july we went on the peak coolidge through a really nice and wild route recently opened click on the link here . One of the stunning view from the face just before the last final corner. Thank you to Hillary and Elie for this nice ascent !
Climbing in caroux/ grimpe au carroux
When the winter arrives to its end and the need of sun is becoming obvious, you need to prepare again for mountain routes and its peculiar rope handling and rock !! Therefore you need to go to le caroux where you have small mountain gneiss and just enough equipment so you don’t risk your life !! the carroux is located near bezier in herault ( 34). A good start for ridge climbing ( easy but really interesting : http://www.camptocamp.org/routes/57457/fr/caroux-arete-des-charbonniers-arete-des-charbonniers-w A serious climb, easy to protect all the way up but need to be carefull not loosing his way http://www.camptocamp.org/routes/56894/fr/caroux-roc-du-caroux-ou-paroi-du-rieutord-pilier-w Difficult pitch 2 : http://www.camptocamp.org/routes/412781/fr/caroux-pouce-de-farrieres-face-sse-directe Caroux; pouce de farrieres face sse directe (steep !): Enjoy some pictures taken from a single pitch climbing.