UKC

I'm going on holiday with the girlfriend soon and we are heading to Utelle in the south of France. We are going to head to Annot but I struggled to find any English topos. Does anyone else know any other good bouldering venues or topo resources.

In reply to Os_878:

http://abloc.org/

In reply to Removed UserArdverikie2:

Yeah saw this spent a few days google translating it and have some info but just wondered on more, hopefully with the fuss of using google

In reply to Os_878:
The most important thing is finding them, which is actually pretty easy if you look at their map:

http://abloc.org/index.php?type=2

Take the right turn north of Annot off the D908, signposted to "Col de Argenton". You go over the railway tracks, and hang a left, about the first corner after it turns into a slightly rough land-rover track, but my C3 picasso made it so it isn't too bad. The first sectors at the bottom are ok, but a bit dispersed/wooded etc. I found sector "scary movie" (12th corner, remember to count!) much better, boulders close together, nice landings, lots of problems. I enjoyed these when I was there, hope you do too!

Robert

In reply to Os_878:
You could try La Gordolasque

The topo is not in English but I'm sure you can read grades and Google map so in any case, this one is quite nice and probably closer than Annot:

http://sudbouldering.free.fr

on Google maps:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Utelle,+France/44.0421455,7.3724636/@43.9...

Hope you have fun anyway!

In reply to Pierre Fuentes:

Thanks went today and lots to have a go at with a lovely view

In reply to RobertHepburn:

Any issues with hunting ?

In reply to Os_878:
Not as far as I now - I was there for a week late August 2013 and didn't see anyone else, so that may not be representative of typical conditions. Rocks had some chalk and were fairly clean, so they obviously get a reasonable amount of traffic. I guess you could boulder with a fluorescent tabbard to avoid being shot?

In reply to Os_878:

The hunting season runs approximately from the end of August/beginning of September to the end of February. It varies quite a bit from one département to the other, and in the South they're complete gun nuts so it's already started.

The reality however is far more complex than that, because depending on what kind of weapon you use (rifle, bow etc.) and the species you're targeting, you can pretty much hunt throughout the year (including holidays and Sundays). At the moment département officials in the South-East are issuing a bunch of permits to massacre what we have left of wolves (and funding night-vision goggles, super high-tech rifles and training 6,000 hunters, while there's only about 350 wolves on this side of the Alps!), just because farmers let their herds wander unprotected in the mountains.

Erm, sorry, I digress. Anyway, be careful, there's already been some "accidents" (can't really call them accidents since once you have your hunting permit, it can't be taken away from you and you don't have to undergo any vision tests, even when you're 70 or 80, nor are you checked for your blood alcohol level when you go hunting).