Time leading up to the arrival of the Erin and Carrie - Mar 23-30th

Well, it been two weeks since I have actually made a post. I guess since I have been injured and not climbing as hard I feel like I would be boring you guys with tales of climbing 6b. Alas, I will cover the last two weeks but maybe skip out on the climbing details till the end where I might cover all the climbs that I did just so I have them recorded somewhere.

So where did I leave you all last time. I guess I had just gotten back from Buoux on March 23 and we had moved into our new gite in Pierrelongue. For this week Adrian and I spent a few days climbing with some of Adrian's clients two English boys and their parents. The Hamer's were delite to climb with and there enthusiasm infectious.

The first day I met them was climbing at Baume Rousse on the 26th of March. I continued to take it easy warming up on an easy 6b. I did manage to get on a 6b+ called "La Cicciolina" which I red pointed. The climbing is quite easy but has a bulging roof that you have to make a few good move to pull through. I then did the "Bapaat Connection" at 5+ and linked in with the upper half of "La Sirene en Pyjama" a 6b roof cracks system which I fell off of because of my sore forearm.

After taking a rest day I rejoined the Hamer's for their last day in France at St Leger.
After warming up on "Piedra Savage" a great 6b+ that is sustained took the Hamer's recommendation a got on a 6c called "Milesi". This route was a brilliant three start line that worked up some technical gray wall that was veritical then traversed to the right to pull on big pockets on an overhang. I was disappointed to miss the onsight one move from the anchor when I mixed up the hand sequence. It was fun having a belay from Dan as he has great energy on the other end of the rope.

I finished they day off by accidentally getting on a 7a called "Gravroche et Mimi Pinsen" which I learned how to bail from using a sling as I didn't want to risk pulling to hard on my sore forearm.

That evening we were invited to dinner at the Climb France gite with the Ollie's family and the Hamer's. The night was fun as we enjoyed vegetarian spaghetti and warm and stimulating conversation with the Hamer's. Dan works in the mining industry in Africa and was telling me about the Eritrea culture which was quite advanced. The had an empire that was center near what is modern day Ethiopia which rival the Roman, Chines, and Persian empires. Both Sam and Ed were disppointed to be going back to the UK in the morning. I couldn't feel sorry for them though as Sam will be off in the summer climbing.

With one final climbing day before the arrival of Erin and Carrie it seemed a good idea for Adrian and I to visit one of the crags that we could be going into the book. We set out to Trois Riviere which turned out to be the closest climbing area to our gite in Pierrelongue, though I'm not sure we will end up there again. The climbing was far to short and not terribly impressive. There were some good routes there but they were generally no longer than 20 metres long.

We occupied our day climbing several routes but decided not to push to hard because of my forearm and in part because of the lack of inspiration from the clouds above or the shortness of the cliffs.

What follows in a route descriptions and grades for what we climbed:

• "Cincine" - 6b (5.10d) - good edges but a little bit dirty and runout near the top.
  
• "Moravagine" - 6b (5.10d) - Really nice climb with good flowing movement between medium size hold with big reaches. The angle is slightly overhanging with good feet. A horizontal break at the top give an amazing hand jam before the last few moves to the anchor.
• "Attention Elle Arrive" - 6b+ (5.11a) - The first clip is hight to start out with but you are glad of it when you realize you are facing the crux right after. The first move off the clip is a bouldery arms only move to gain the headwall followed by a delicate open hand move to step right. Move through incut holds on mediocre feet moves you out of the crux and into a good stance to recover. A few more 6a+ moves get you to a large flake which gives easy moves to the anchor.
• "Me-fiate" - 6b+ (5.11a) - This climb was slab like and required a long reach and extremely thin moves to get past the crux at the 3rd bolt. A tiny crimp, allows you to pinch a terrible right hand hold while you make a delicate rock over (shift weight over you other foot) so you can bump your right hand to a better hold before you shift you weight right further to a secure position. The top has some bite as well requiring some route finding as the direct finish is not much to speak of.
• "Le Clochard Analphabete" - 6b (5.10d) ***- The climb starts out on an overhang with powerful moves for the first 8-10 meters on hug jugs. The rest of the climb is pretty relaxed till you reach the last few moves which are really run out but not difficult.
• "Nebulophobe" - 6c+ (5.11c) *** - Big moves on jugs but almost no feet. The sequence above the flake is sequency and has large moves on very small feet. Powerful lockoffs for my right arm prevented me from doing the upper sequence so I pulled on the bolt to get through it. A great climb if you have long arms and like to pull on them.