Grenoblog 6 - Pierrot, Pockets and Projects!

I'm now officially over half way through my stay here in Grenoble - 5 weeks down, 5 to go! Last week was a short working week due to Toussaints/All Saints on the Thursday, so I had a 4 days off to fill with climbing!

After the Coupe de France last weekend I was exhausted, and even a few days later I was still very tired. I decided not to climb for 3 days in order to recover - getting up at 5:30am and having a full-on day of competition with 4 different routes and getting back late had certainly taken its toll on me. However, as a reward for having  done so much and barely having stopped at all since getting here, I took it easy, ate a pizza and thought about what to do over the next 4 days!

As it happened, Frédéric (a French guy who Robbie and I have met several times on our tours of the world's finest crags) was keen to go climbing on as many of the days we had available as possible, although the weather was looking rather dubious in places. We initially decided to try Pierrot Beach on the Friday, and St Leger the next two or three days. However, when we arrived at Pierrot on the Thursday morning, it was completely sodden with rain. Black streaks everywhere, we headed back down to the car towards...St Léger!

St Léger

I had been informed by some members of Team EP who had been in the area recently that conditions were good, so we were looking forward to climbing in one of the best areas in the world for a few days! 2 and a half hours later, we arrived at La Baleine sector and it was soaked! Although the sun was cracking the flags/rock, the seepage from the rain a few days ago was coming through strong. Back to the car it was, and another drive to the main sectors. The valley was beautiful, and the sun was out which made it even more enticing to get on the wall and climb! By the time we got up to the main sector it was nearing 3:30pm, so unfortunately we only had time to do one route each - an amazing 6b+ with odd features in sector Nabab. It was a bit disappointing to have been rained off and to have sort of wasted a day, but I was just happy to have visited a fantastic crag and to have had a day of lots and lots of walking in the sun! We decided not to come back to St Leger as the weather looked too iffy to risk staying there a few days. Mention was made of Buoux, Gorges du Tarn...but in general everywhere was threatened with rain and bad conditions, and crags in Grenoble were still drying out after the 30cm of snow had melted! That evening we decided it would be best to stick closer to home and visit a local crag to Grenoble called St Ange. It would be much less risky, we thought...

It was a beautifully sunny day and the drive up to St Ange was spectacular, with a panoramic view of the 3 Massifs and being almost at eye level across the valley with the snow-topped Belledonne mountains. However, as Frédéric didn't have the topo with him, we had used the map to guess the location. This was a bad idea. We were lost. We asked an uncertain tree-feller if he knew of a "falaise St Ange." We were driving around a forest up windy roads...whilst simultaneously running very very low on petrol! Luckily there was a can in the back, but after the tank was filled a bit more we were met with a car refusing to acquiesce to our request to get moving. Eventually, once the petrol had levelled out a bit the car started, but we were still lost and GPS was failing us. We looked up at the mass of rock high up ahead of us, guessing which bits could be St Ange, but I had seen pictures and was unsure as to whether we were in the right place. After finding what could have been the car park, we decided to give up and go to Pierrot Beach, stopping off to pick up a topo on the way.

Pretty hanging houses!

Finally we had found a crag which was both accessible and dry(ish!). It was the safest bet, just over an hour away in case of epic rainfall. The weather held out, and although it was 2:30pm ish by the time we got there (after checking out the waterfall which comes from the caves deep within the crag) and we managed to warm up quickly on a 7a before Frédéric jumped on his 8b+ project, Hérésie. He looked strong on the moves and deep down I thought it looked like a route I would like to try. In all honesty, the grade scared me - I had never touched an 8b+ before and had only managed my first 8b a few months ago. However, there's nothing like bad conditions and gopping wet tufas and pockets to provide an incentive to get on something that's dry, even if it seems a bit out of your limit! The route looked fun and Frédéric assured me the holds were good and that I would like it...

Hérésie starts in the middle of this image and runs through the blank white bulge and straight up to the orange crozzle at the top. It's steeper than it looks though!

Hérésie is about 25/30m long and follows a steep section of rock at about 40 degrees overhanging! It is chipped so I wasn't expecting it to be one of the most organic of routes, but as long as the moves were interesting I didn't mind! Can't really complain as I've climbed enough on artificial routes in Gorges du Loup this summer! As the comical sign at the bottom of the crag says "TROUS EN FORMATION"(literally holes in formation - a road sign warning when the surface is uneven after winter) it's not exactly a secret that this crag has fake holds - it is even home to a bolt-on hold on one of the 7c+s!

I pulled onto the boulder problem at the start - small crimps for hands but poor feet, I took my time to do each move and find good positions. The moves were quite stretched for me, but soon I was at the cool-looking tufa section. It was a bit damp, but I figured out a knee bar and worked my way up to what looked to be one of the hardest, biggest moves on the route. Each hand had a positive pocket, and two poor footholds quite far below under a mini scoop of wall. The next hold - a good undercut flake - was fairly far away. I limbered up and started to swing, twisted my right knee and threw for the undercut, just latching it and swinging my feet up after it - WOW! It was such a fun move and I was pleased to have caught it on first attempt. I clipped and crossed over for the next good pocket with my left hand, feet up high on two tiny bobbles and then threw up dynamically for a three-finger (two if you have sausage fingers, sorry Robbie :P ) pocket with my right hand, poised a foot on a tiny edge and prepared to move - bloc! I took on the rope and tried to figure out the best finger orientation for the pocket - back three was the successful candidate! I made the thrutchy cross over to a gaston crimp with my left and prepared for the shouldery press/jump to a decent juggy flake. I clipped and rested, crossed over to another back three pocket with my right and did a massive rock-over and lock-off up to an undercut 3 finger pocket, egyptianed and threw for a good sidepull with my right, feet cutting loose and then grabbing the good jug with my left just above and matching. This is the best hold on the route, as it turned out, and you have to make the most of it! 

My new coach...

I threw up left for a good sidepull pocket, built my feet up and heelhooked the jug to reach up for a pinchy pocket with my right and clipped. I rested on the rope here and then worked my way up through the next bit - a big move to a gaston, match feet, grab the crimp and then leap for a good slot and match the mini-flake beside it. Now came the redpoint crux - 4 powerful moves on undercuts with awkward clips that may have to be missed! I took the good crimp, egyptianed up and right for a good sidepull, got my feet up high and powered for the undercut, smeared my feet on nothingness and pulled for the next undercut pocket...and failed! I worked this a few times, eventually getting it and throwing over for the next good flake with my left hand, feet daintily poised on tiny bobbles, I grabbed an intermediate pinch on the tufa with my right and launched again for a juggy one-hand pocket with my right. Left foot high, I slowly released my left hand ( I am kind of in a Crucifix position at this point, shoulders out of sockets stuff here!) and take all of my weight on my right arm, using the momentum to power over the top for another one-handed crack-like jug which I ended up jamming my hand in. I worked the next move - a difficult cross over up to an undercut, then high feet and up to a slopey sidepull and a deep egyptian up to a good edge. The thing about these holds is that although they are positive, there is little or no room for both hands and consequently no time for hanging around! The top section was tricky at first but then I found a method which worked better for me - cross to the next jug and reach up to a crozzly pocket with your left hand, high right foot and balance up to the next slotty pocket with right hand, clip, grab intermediate sidepull and throw for sidepull crimp, bring right foot under and heel hook a good edge with left foot to throw up again with left hand to an undercut pocket (back 3 again!) step up slowly and balance to reach a good sidepull, build feet up and jam left hand into another v-shaped pocket, grab intermediate crimp, bump again to another one then left foot high and step up to the finishing flake and clip! 

It was an amazing route, and I felt chuffed to have been able to do all of the moves on an 8b+. I was knackered afterwards, as it was so physical - lots of powerful, shouldery moves at the limit of my reach! What I had going for me was my ability to get my feet very high use my core strength and momentum to overcome the distance. The crozzly tufa rock at the top was so different to the smooth, glassy limestone at the bottom, it was really fun to be climbing on two different styles of rock and route in the one climb. Sadly after that one attempt the night was starting to fall, so we vowed to return the next day to get back on it...

On the Saturday conditions were sublime - we warmed up on THE classic route of Presles Legoland 7a. It even has a lego figurine at the bottom of it! Beautiful moves that seemed to flow into each other (no, it wasn't chipped!) and interesting holds. Afterwards I had my first run of the day on Hérésie. The moves felt more familiar and I managed to link a crucial 12 metre section in the middle. I still struggled with the throw to the undercut at the start, and needed to perfect the kneebar (Gorges du  Loup taught me well though!) and even the top section felt much better. My skin was starting to shred, yet despite this, we each did another 2 runs on the route. I never thought I would manage to even work my way up to the top 3 times in one session especially after having climbed the two days before, but somehow I managed! With each go I learned something new and took my time on the moves (see I do listen to you Robbie! :D ) and although I was exhausted by the end of the day, I was still keen to return the next day (today) to try again...

Ouch!

This morning I awoke with the back, biceps and shoulders of someone who has been launching between holds on steep ground - achy and stiff, and in need of tenderising! Yet I wasn't giving up - we drove once more along the scenic route to Pierrot (which I think I know by heart now, that's saying something knowing me and my directional abilities whilst on the road!) and arrived at the crag about lunchtime. We warmed up on Sanguine Joli Fruit 7a+ which I managed to onsight depsite finding a particularly big move in the roof tricky. Unfortunately the crag seemed wetter than the day before (seepage rather than rain) so we were restricted once again to trying the 8b+ (which was also slightly unclimbable for the first two or three clips). I had another run on it and pulled through the clips until the tufa and kneebar, and found a better position for my knee. I worked my way through the moves but struggled in some sections where pockets and flakes were seeping. Still, each move was completed and a bit more confined to memory. I was tired and Frédéric wasn't too keen for climbing in the rain, which started as I was half-way up. When I lowered, the clouds from across the valley were starting to surround the foot of the crag - how atmospheric! It was 3:30pm and time to head back to Grenoble. After 4 days of climbing my skin, muscles and brain were very tired indeed, but I can't wait to return to Pierrot once conditions get a bit better.

View from Pierrot across the valley, and the bottom of the waterfall...

Aside from the climbing, I have also been working for the French climbing webpage PlanetGrimpe.com and helping to translate articles and interviews for their new English language site, of which I have been put in charge! It's a lot of responsability, but it is great experience for improving my language skills (merci Charles!)

Back to work tomorrow with Entre-Prises, in the run-up to potentially competing in the next Coupe de France round in Chamonix next weekend (condition and cost dependent!) 

Roll on week 6! :D