UKC

Hi Everyone,

I’m soon to be moving to France and starting to get teary eyed at the prospect of leaving the relatively distinctive rock of the British Isles. Don’t get me wrong, I’m looking forward to getting on some big limestone walls, but it would be nice to know of some places where I can get a quick fill of nostalgia without having to come back to the UK. Question is twofold…

1. Does anyone know of any French crags which have reminded them of British climbing

2. Any decent crags for trad climbing? So far I’ve seen a few places, but they seem to exclusively use cams, anything more varied to be had?


Thanks for letting me know, maybe it’ll come down to just visiting the UK once in a while!

In reply to finanrodinson:

I was at a Mick Fowler talk where he mentioned that there is some french coastal chalk that is very similar to Dover chalk. Don't forget your ice tools.

HTH.

In reply to finanrodinson:

Where are you moving to is the missing information here?

And which rock are you going to miss in particular?

In reply to finanrodinson:

Pen Hir in Britany, the Rocks just like Gogarth.

In reply to wbo:

Moving to Grenoble, but happy to hear about anything which resembles anything else as have a few friends around france (and I assume that tall-ish grit is too much to ask for?), thanks!

In reply to finanrodinson:

Tallish grit? Annot?

In reply to finanrodinson:


Gueberschwihr (near Colmar, Alsace) is a bit like grit with bolts...

In reply to finanrodinson:
I don't think you'll be struggling for amazing climbing options then! Why does it have to be like the UK? Amazing limestone at Ceuse and Orpierre. Gniess, Chamonix granite. Trad options will be mainly in the mountains and tend to be different from UK granite - less weathered so tends to run to better gear.

yep, I'd swap that lot for UK.

In reply to finanrodinson:

Chateauvert is Stoney Middleton sans polish and heavy lorries. Bolted though....

In reply to finanrodinson:

Clecy is quite British in character, and although it's bolted some of the bolt positions are 'interesting'.

In reply to finanrodinson:

Auzat in the Ariege?

In reply to Darron:

"If" you´re a recreational level trad climber (?), then a massive sport climbing scene like Grenoble/SE France might feel daunting.

Sure, look out for trad, but also embrace bolts for what they usually are; billion % bommer pro that enable you to climb mega hard and push your limits, which isn´t always the case on trad. If you have a trad head then you´ll already have a bit of an advantage in that sense. Also, bolts do kind of come into their own for multipitch as you can be more blasé about big routes and get lots of milage. You´ll never lose your trad skills because they´re engrained like riding a bicycle. And I bet when you get back on trad you´ll be stronger than you were.

In reply to Sl@te Head:

Yes, the rock is like Gogarth but it's a bit smaller and the ambience is more like Pembroke.