UKC

Had a (admittedly half-arsed) look for this on previous topics and couldn't find it. Looking for some climbing to split the journey up and make it more pleasant. Will probably be heading to the Ecrins any recommendations? Sport climbing up to 6b trad up to HVS.

In reply to sheelba:

I used to stop in Burgundy. Plenty of crags with wide grade range and superb wines locally!

In reply to sheelba:

We didn't stop on the way down, but we escaped a week of bad weather in Chamonix by heading up to Vergisson, in Burgundy, which was a great little place.

In reply to sheelba:

I recommend Saffres not far from Dijon. Single pitch sport climbing with lots to do in your grade range. There are other crags in the same area. A fairly non-serious place that I've found a great antidote to more serious things in the Alps. It's a good half-way stop en route to the Ecrins (unless you're starting in Scotland of course, when it's nearly there!).

It's been a while since I was there though. Lots of recent work had been done equipping the routes but the equipment will be a bit longer in the tooth by now.

Martin

In reply to sheelba:

http://www.ffme.fr/site/falaise.html

This should give you a bit of choice !

In reply to sheelba:

Bourgogne, (Burgundy), great place, Cormot, Hauteroche, etc, see the Jingo Wobbly guide, was there last month well equipped and good fun...

In reply to sheelba:

Check out Vieux Chateau near Avallon. It's a kind of Gallic version of Dewerstone.

In reply to sheelba:

We did this last year on the way to Ailefroide. The Jingo Wobbly guide came in very handy. Hoping to do another trip this year as well..

In reply to sheelba:

Thanks guys, useful advice. Was hoping to save money by doing without a guide (perhaps more likely take a couple of pictures of one in a shop) which could be interesting/potentially quite stupid. Vieux Chateau looks good as does Remigny if anyone's been.

In reply to sheelba:

There is year round combing in Nolay, close to some of the crags and a nice village with shops and restaurants.

In reply to sheelba:

If the weather is good in the Alps, just keep going. Burgundy is a perfectly pleasant diversion, but really nothing special. I mean, if you were on your way from the south of England to Skye or Ben Nevis in good weather, you wouldn't bother stopping at Ilkley - would you?

If you want to crag, the granite valley cragging at both La Berarde and Ailfroide (the two main Ecrins centres) is stupendous. Much closer too are the limestone crags of the Durance valley. Finally, again much closer, is the Vercors - a tremendous area in its own right. But if you want to crag (albeit the routes are 8 pitches long) you could visit Presles, on the way to the Ecrins from Grenoble. A fantastic place.

You can drive to the Ecrins from Calais in a day quite easily.

In reply to sheelba:


Fixed that for you.

As an aside if you can afford to drive to the alps, with all the costs that entails - ferries, insurance, tolls, servicing, fuel etc etc *surely* you can find £20-30 for a guidebook, or less for a local topo which would support the local bolt fund.

In reply to Andy Hardy:

£20-30 for one days worth of climbing I don't think it's unreasonable. If I can get hold of a cheaper local topo I'd be happy to.

In reply to sheelba:

Try the "Climbing Away" app. Shows you where all the crags are and has a few digital guides to download.

In reply to sheelba:
We climbed at Martinswand en route to the Dolomites a couple of years back and it is pretty good in the grade range you mentioned. Link to UKC article below:
http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=216

In reply to sheelba:


What's not unreasonable? To buy a guidebook or to photograph some pages?

In reply to charley:

Thanks, that looks like a useful app