UKC

I'm off to the ariege area (near foix/tarascon) in a few weeks, can anyone recomend a good guide book (trad + sport)?

In reply to ebdon:

There's no selective guide to the area so no one guide that will serve all or most of your needs. However there is comprehensive information and topos online at http://cafma.free.fr/plan.htm , which are sufficient for getting you to almost all of the developed crags and identifying the routes.

There are some specific guides to different area within Ariège, including current available publications to Auzat, Bedéilhac (Calamès), Sinsat, the Dent d'Orlu and the Plantaurel. These are all in French but most of the topo diagrams are easy to follow - just some of the approach info may be a bit harder if you don't read French. There's also a lovely and brand new guide by Graham Lynch (in English) to the great limestone around Niaux near Tarascon, which should be available a week or two from now.

We have each of the guides and printouts of most of the web info for guests, and it seems that people don't have particular difficulty in using any of them. The biggest limitation is that there's very little info on quality or recommended routes, so personal recommendations are very useful.

John
http://www.chezArran.com

In reply to ebdon:
If it helps I asked exactly the same recently:
http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=465098

(and John Arran was very helpful in my thread too!)

In reply to jonny taylor: Thanks very much - I had assumed as much from perusing the guide selction in shops, apologies for repeating threads!

Tom