UKC

Has anybody climbed around Dijon? what is the rock like, any good guides?

In reply to Somerville: Yeah there's some good stuff in Bourgogne. I've got the Jingo Wobbly guidebook, it's fairly well used so I'd probs sell it cheap if you're interested?

In reply to Somerville:

I heard as a destination it doesn't really cut the mustard.

Ahem.

In reply to Somerville:

Climbed at Solutre (sp) and Vergisson (?) and took a look at Cormot (?) which seemed all right. We used topos bought in the local bars. My recollection its that the crags were in great positions on the nose of promontories overlooking the vineyards. Solutre was the morning crag and Vergisson the afternooncrag with a wine tasting in between. As I remember it was OK if you are in the area or looking for a stop off on the way to/from the south but no more than that. Sorry that's a bit vague but it was 15-20 years ago and it may be polished to death by now. I think the fact we never bothered going back may be quite telling too

In reply to Somerville:

I did 5 days there this summer on the way to and from the alps. Mostly spent at Cormot which was great. 35 metres high bolted climbing but with a little bit of a trad feel. Rock was both a little loose and polished (a bit of a contradiction) and the routes were tough for the grade. Well worth stopping off. But a destination in it's own right? I doubt it. It does attract a lot of climbers from Paris so it can't be that bad.

Think Chudleigh rocks on a bigger scale.

The other crags we visited were in poor weather. Harder and more compact limestone.

In reply to Somerville:

Saffres is good. Hauteroche lots of enjoyable stuff too.

Overall, it depends what you are comparing it with but for an area with lots of crags within 5 or 6 hours of Calais it is pretty good. Add in all those vineyards and you should enjoy yourself for a few weeks and more,

In reply to Somerville:

Area's well worth a visit - loads to do http://www.ffme.fr/site/falaise-liste.html?DEPARTEMENT=21
Best that I've been to are Hauteroche, Cormot & Saffres (latter a bit polished)

In reply to Somerville:

I would agree with some of the comments above. You may well find the routes quite or very polished. Mostly, in my experience, they are very steep and in-your-face and hard for the grade. Also, in my limited experience (which may not be typical), they don't seem to attract large numbers of climbers - maybe owing to the above.

In reply to George Fisher:

Good - saw what you did there. ;oD

In reply to Somerville:

We climbed all around Bourgogne this summer. Had a great time, hoping to do another trip next year. Definitely recommend the Jingo Wobbly guide, came in very useful.

Only had two days around Dijon on the way back home. Went to Fixin & Lantenay. Enjoyed them both. The section we climbed at Fixin felt very Font-ish style of climbing. Had a great day there. Only spent the morning at Lantenay, found it pretty nails (battled my way up a 6b+ which felt more like 7a) but was the last day of a two week trip..

In reply to Somerville:

For a 'Derbyshire' vibe the crags NW of Dijon like Saffres are great, albeit polished. A very 'green' environment.

For a more 'sun-rock' feel then the crags S of Dijon in the E facing valleys (in the classic wine territory) tend to be more open and dry. There's exceptions of course!

The Jingo Wobbly is maybe the most recent guide but if you can find any new local guides you will have way more to go at (from recollection the JW guide has about 70 routes at Saffres whereas there are actually over 500 routes on the crag). And you will be helping out the local equippeurs?

In reply to Somerville:

If you look on the UKC crag guides to Cormot and Saffres there is some more info there that I put on....