Day 18: Beautiful Climbing

Shutting the windows before going out for our last day of climbing.
This is the color of their 12pm sunlight!

It was a beautiful day to go climbing.

The sun was out, but the temperature stayed within t-shirt weather. It was as if le Midi (as locals would call the “south of France”) was taunting us to rip our plane tickets apart and stay on for at least one more week. ‘Don’t go! Just a few more days…The weather is better now,’ it called to us. ‘You can hop on harder routes; friction is at its best!’

La Capelle, the sandstone bouldering spot that was 10 minutes away by car, felt like an enchanted forest. We had climbed in it almost two weeks ago, but this particular day, with a cooler breeze in our midst, the sunlight seemed to gently caress branches and leaves instead of ramming through them. The rock was cool and dry. With zero humidity, suddenly our skin stuck to them like hook-to-loop Velcro. Chalk dust danced in the air.

Or maybe I’m just being overdramatic because it’s our last day of climbing in France.

Oh, but what a good day of climbing it was. Surrounded by new and old friends, mostly our age group but also with one who is over 50 years old, we were able to try several boulder problems together, and even work on individual projects. La Capelle has a lot to offer regardless of one’s climbing level, and one doesn’t have to walk far to keep trying new lines.

Best of all, the landing is always flat!

Caro's 15-foot-ish warm-up

My version of warm-up ;)

Lucas sticking the one-hand dyno! (Angle not so good though, sorry!)

I was ecstatic to complete a high-ball, and it was awesome to watch Lucas – who doesn’t get to boulder very often – land a big dyno after attempting it several times. Miel and Caro challenged each other on friction-based problems, while Lucas and I had our skin grated working on an overhanging line that put our full body weight on the fingers.

Seriously squeezing out what we can from the trip, we continued our traditional climbing education by putting James’ lessons into practical application. Amazingly, La Capelle had this to offer as well: Entry-level trad routes with a few bolts, allowing trad newbies like us to practice placement of cams and nuts.

As if the entire experience wasn’t unique enough, we had a professional photographer in the group, documenting our fun afternoon!

Miel's trad climb gets some photos from Raf!

Before the day expired, we had to say our sad goodbyes to a couple of friends, including Raf and Seb. In the evening, we feasted on dinner prepared by the next-door neighbor pizzeria, as Caro and Lucas suggested things for us to do in Paris (our destination the following day).

We also mused where our next exploit can possibly be (maybe two years down the road...)

It truly is exciting when you let the mind wander and dream.

Just like how I let the images carry me away as I described La Capelle.

As “exaggerated” as it may sound, though, I honestly prefer to preserve my memory of this little bouldering gem – and the entire climbing experience in le Midi – in that manner: As a magical two weeks in my life where the discovery and friendship was all that mattered. A time when all senses were heightened, and I just soaked it all in.

Oh, what a beautiful gift you are to me, climbing.

You boulder, you. (Hindi siya nagpatapos. Huhu).

Sharing a La Sportiva video of James and Caro climbing in La Capelle. You judge the area for yourself! ;)

Day 2 to 3: Everything Is New

It’s the most obvious point of attention, and without doubt, one that piques my interest all the time: The landscapes. As soon as the plane flew over Paris, I couldn’t help but admire the large patches of green punctuating the city. In the train to Valence, I watched open fields and mountain silhouettes on the window. And as we drove to the crags, vineyards and olive tree plantations were as abundant as coconut trees in the Philippines. They were just everywhere.

These two days for me were as much about experiencing the new climbing styles as it was taking in all the new-ness of being in this area of France. The peacefulness and quietness of a small village, the days that start late and end late, the fresh cold air that gets locked inside a stone house.

Driving 5-10km out of Connaux could already take you to your nearest climbing area (La Capelle), through narrow but well-paved, bending roads that let cars run 60-90km per hour. There seems to be dozens of kinds of road signs to remember, and everyone follows them, down to the 50km speed limit when you’re inside a village.

Driving 50km will take you to even more crags (in our case, in Mouries). Going further out boasted more greeneries, wide flowing rivers, and quaint villages that all look like they’re over 300 years old because of all the stone and brick finishes. Hill tops are almost always crowned with a castle, and always made me do a double take.

So it was just to my excitement that we could easily check out one of these ruins, which we did after a day in Mouries. And that’s one of the coolest things, too. Because the sun doesn’t set until 8pm, and there is no traffic to get from Point A to B, we could drive for just 10 minutes, hike for another 10, and be on the very top of some century-old structure. Oh, getting to the top includes some low-ball wall climbing because some part of the stairs have been destroyed.

Ah, but we are here for climbing, right? ;)

Mouries was actually Day 2, and it’s an old limestone crag that sticks out for looking like hardbound books forced to stand on their spines. The faces are flat like a book cover, too, and, as expected from these smooth faces, are favorable to those with strong fingers. The routes were a crimp fest, but because it stays in the shade for the whole day, the tiny features had nice friction.

Another new and interesting thing to see were the old type of hangers on the rock. They were old-style bolts that were hand-drilled! So the protection came slightly fewer in between, because you can imagine how much work would go into drilling in one bolt.

La Capelle was climbing day number three, and to our surprise, it’s a 5-minute drive with excellent sandstone bouldering. Miel and I can’t help but be amazed by how convenient the climbing area is, because you can park right in the middle of the village, by the church, and walk 5 minutes up and be in the middle of 10-15 foot boulders.

The boulders aren’t too high that everything's under the trees (decent shade), the landings are flat, and there’s a good variety of styles to choose from, from slabs and roofs to pinchy and crimpy problems. We tried problems that had slopers and open holds, and they would stick, just because there was enough granules (and possibly, relatively good conditions) that would bite into our skins.

The boulders have interesting names, such as the Elephant Rock and Lion Rock, named so because the rocks really look like faces of the animals. And yes, the rocks are even properly labeled with signs and the trails interspersed with symbol and color-coded markers; so even without a topo or guidebook, we could easily spend days here and not run out of things to do.

We ended Day 3 by visiting Pont du Gard, a historical landmark and apparently a UNESCO heritage site. It’s an ancient masterpiece: An aqueduct built in 50 AD (the 1^st century!!!), built by the Romans at that time to supply water to the city of Nimes. To get an idea of its majesty, the original construction ran 50 km long, and stands 50 m high, built from limestone blocks that is plentiful in the region (no wonder there is so much climbing here, ha!) Or maybe a better scale reference: The biggest arch of the aqueduct stands 25 m high. And that’s just ONE arch!

With our new friend and tour guide for the day,
local climber extraordinaire, Coralie

Safe to say that that’s already a lot to take in for two days, and we’re only getting started.