Wintertime...
This weekend we left daylight saving time, which I think is a pity, since I could use that extra hour of light in the evening all year long! Now I will arrive home from work when it's already - or nearly - dark, it will be less practical for for feeding the animals or other chores around the house, or going climbing or biking..
So Geert and I decided to wait at least one more day to switch time, and leave early for a rock climbing sunday. No Dave today, but a day of (slab) climbing at the Rochers de Paradoux in Yvoir.
We arrived early, and it was really no surprise nobody else was there to climb. What did surprise us, was that we stayed alone like that until somewhere in the afternoon! While it really was a nice day to be out and climbing. Are less people climbing nowadays? Has the poor summer caused them giving up on climbing outdoors and do they stick to indoor climbing halls? Did they all move to Germany? Are they afraid of the cold? Are they all on holiday?
To be honest: we didn't care, but enjoyed the climbing. Even though I realized I forgot my climbing shoes when it was way to late to turn back to get them, so I had to climb on my Five.Ten Mountain Masters approach shoes...
I did some scrambling and climbing on those shoes before, so we didn't care, just kept to fifth grade routes.
Climbing at Paradoux is totally different from what you get in Dave: absolutely no need for any mobile pro whatsoever! Even when they put in the guidebook a route's protection is "demanding some commitment" there's still plenty of bombproof bolts in it.
Make sure to take loads of quickdraws when you go there!
So, mental lead climbing training was absent, concentration on using footholds was omnipresent, and once again we did discover some less known little pearls of climbing routes. Perhaps it's not a coincidence, but those little pearls I'm talking about, were all opened in the seventies by the late Claudio Barbier, and are atypical for the crag, which has mainly slab climbing. And no, I'm not going to spoil it by telling which routes I'm talking about! q-:
So Geert and I decided to wait at least one more day to switch time, and leave early for a rock climbing sunday. No Dave today, but a day of (slab) climbing at the Rochers de Paradoux in Yvoir.
We arrived early, and it was really no surprise nobody else was there to climb. What did surprise us, was that we stayed alone like that until somewhere in the afternoon! While it really was a nice day to be out and climbing. Are less people climbing nowadays? Has the poor summer caused them giving up on climbing outdoors and do they stick to indoor climbing halls? Did they all move to Germany? Are they afraid of the cold? Are they all on holiday?
To be honest: we didn't care, but enjoyed the climbing. Even though I realized I forgot my climbing shoes when it was way to late to turn back to get them, so I had to climb on my Five.Ten Mountain Masters approach shoes...
I did some scrambling and climbing on those shoes before, so we didn't care, just kept to fifth grade routes.
Climbing at Paradoux is totally different from what you get in Dave: absolutely no need for any mobile pro whatsoever! Even when they put in the guidebook a route's protection is "demanding some commitment" there's still plenty of bombproof bolts in it.
Make sure to take loads of quickdraws when you go there!
So, mental lead climbing training was absent, concentration on using footholds was omnipresent, and once again we did discover some less known little pearls of climbing routes. Perhaps it's not a coincidence, but those little pearls I'm talking about, were all opened in the seventies by the late Claudio Barbier, and are atypical for the crag, which has mainly slab climbing. And no, I'm not going to spoil it by telling which routes I'm talking about! q-:
posted by Nonkel V at
8:44 AM
