UKC

Whats the deal with climbing new routes in France?

I have found a crag, which already has established, bolted routes, and would like to add some more. Obviously I'd like to make sure I use appropriate fixing for the area and don't want to upset any landowners/local climbers.

I could sort this out once I've got involved with the local climbing community, but this will take a while as I won't be living there full time for a few years.

Does the FFME provide localised advice on this sort of thing?

In reply to steve taylor:

Have you tried posting your questions on camptocamp? If not, I'd suggest it's the best place to start.

http://www.camptocamp.org/forums/?lang=fr

In reply to steve taylor:

You could try contacting the guidebook writer? I live in the haute alpes and they guy who does the guide is also the FFME rep in the area? Or contact the FFME direct to se if these have a contact in that area,

It's worth checking, our whole area is classed as a French equivulant of a SSSI and we need to get permission to bolt some crags, also at established area there are section that can't be bolted for other restrictions?

Cheers

In reply to steve taylor:

Hi Steve,

It's slightly different for different areas, but generally it's the local committees of the FFME who maintain agreements with landowners and conformity of equipment.

You can check if a crag is covered by an FFME agreement on the FFME site http://www.ffme.fr/site/falaise.html

If it's in the Herault the people to contact are here : http://cd34-ffme.fr/ They'll probably point you towards a guy called David Foissier (co-author of the recent caroux guide). They might also be able to provide some bolts.

In reply to steve taylor:

After the bolt related accidents (fatalities?!) in the Perpignan sector (5yrs ago ?) there was a notion that all equippers should have a brevet (cert of training) to prove competence. There was a rumour that all crags equipped by unqualified persons be shut down. Seems that the hardline was not held - but best be aware of the history.