Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Annot has it all, Sandstone, Crack Paradise, Trad Climbing, Sport Climbing and Bouldering

In our search for places where you can do multiple climbing disciplines the name Annot in South of France popped up. The main interest for us was the traditional climbing possibilities (yes we ammit we are addicted) but Annot has also sport climbing and bouldering offerings that are well known.

Annot is a very nice little town on the lower side of the Alps in the Provence in France.
With its sandstone formations it is very special place compared to the rest of the area that mainly consist of limestone crags.
We surfed the internet in search for topo’s and guides but apparently they were only available locally. (You can buy them locally at the Tourist Office, Café du Commerce or Book shop.)
Nevertheless I also found some good info from the Dutch Trad pioneers like Niek de Jonge en Kris Schrijvers. They even opened some interesting routes in Annot.
Another good source is: http://tradannot.over-blog.com/

After the 1200km’s drive south we woke up in a very cold, chilly , freezing, snowing, hail, rainy and stormy weather in Annot. Dammed. Nevertheless we started to accommodate with some easy sport climbing routes (5-6a) at Meteores I. Well easy? The first few meters were pretty hard and eroded.

Next day we went off to do some trad climbing. But where to go?? We followed the hiking path leading to the crags but no idea which small climber path to take, and if it was save 300meter high on a small ledge? We went down in La Cave but it was overloaded with people so we searched for another crag. Going back we found some routes at La Vire Du Bas. Starting with SAB 2005 which was slightly wet, but still a good introduction to the area. In the sun I already spotted a great looking crack line called Chauffe Marcel 6a++. A couple of people that walked by told us that it was harder than 6a++. Ok? So I geared up and started. First part is a slanted corner that becomes smaller but still doable, but then the crack starts twisting. Definitely harder than 6B. Other routes are shown is this report.

To make our story not too long, we had a wonderful time in Annot with fantastic trad climbing, sport routes (pockets and steep crags) and a huge offering of boulder blocks with > 1500 problems.

We tried all the disciples with great fun and had a nice glass of wine in Café du Commerce in Annot after our sessions. Life is good. https://www.tripadvisor.nl/Restaurant_Review-g1700020-d4610541-Reviews-Cafe_du_Commerce-Annot_Alpes_de_Haute_Provence_Provence_Alpes_Cote_d_Azur.

For the Boulder people please look also for the weekend of 20-21 May 2017 for Annot a Block. It’s a great festival http://www.annotabloc.com/


https://www.8a.nu/Index.aspx?CountryCode=GLOBAL
Check Trad ranking (8th)
La Vire Inter

Chauffe Marcel 6a++ ?


Now things get complicated


Y Gauche




Took a while


Fanny L1


Fanny


San in Domino


Great Route slight off width








































 

Sunday, May 7, 2017

Annot, Trad climbing

Hi All,


Last week we went to France for doing some traditional, sport climbing and bouldering.
We started the week with some easy bolted sport climbing routes. Nice occasion on the second day, in glance I saw surprisingly James Pearson just walking by and his girlfriend Caroline Ciavaldini greeted us Good Morning at the train station of Annot.
Not knowing he was working on a project in Annot but now we know. Le Voyage
https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item/71078/new_e10_7a_in_annot_by_james_pearson_-_le_voyage


We will come back with some more stories and pictures.



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