Trad Climbing in Dave
Yesterday was time for another day of classic Belgian rock climbing at the Rocher de Nevieau near Dave, I wrote about this spot before.
We anticipated to the "bad bolts drawback" by taking some nuts and camalots and went for some -ehrm- less frequented routes. One of them was even mentioned in the guidebook being "in bad shape nowadays", and the most recent guidebook for this crag is almost 20 years old!
Needless to say most of it was totally overgrown, and we made good use of our rack: we only found two our three old rusted pitons in the whole route!
But it definitely was a nice adventure climb. The name of the route is also quite appropriate "L'Inconnue" (the Unknown). Even Eddy did not know it!
It's a shame most climbers only climb first pitches in Dave, while a lot of routes have two or even three pitches that are very beautifull also. Those are also completely not polished - which is a relevant and valuable characteristic for Belgian rock climbing routes!
But the premise all Belgian rock climbing is sports climbing holds less and less; there definitely is trad climbing in Belgium, and I hope it will be preserved!
We anticipated to the "bad bolts drawback" by taking some nuts and camalots and went for some -ehrm- less frequented routes. One of them was even mentioned in the guidebook being "in bad shape nowadays", and the most recent guidebook for this crag is almost 20 years old!
Needless to say most of it was totally overgrown, and we made good use of our rack: we only found two our three old rusted pitons in the whole route!
But it definitely was a nice adventure climb. The name of the route is also quite appropriate "L'Inconnue" (the Unknown). Even Eddy did not know it!
It's a shame most climbers only climb first pitches in Dave, while a lot of routes have two or even three pitches that are very beautifull also. Those are also completely not polished - which is a relevant and valuable characteristic for Belgian rock climbing routes!
But the premise all Belgian rock climbing is sports climbing holds less and less; there definitely is trad climbing in Belgium, and I hope it will be preserved!
posted by Nonkel V at
9:18 AM
