I’m writing this whilst sat in the bar of a
ferry halfway between Le Harve and Portsmouth enduring some horrendous waves
rocking this boat to the point where I am walking like a drunk man even though
I’m sober… not a nice way to travel!
The final few days in Dordogne saw us blessed
with sunny blue skies allowing us to get out for full days rather than dodging
the showers allowing us to get some great photos taken. Below is a shot of Sami
during his redpoint of the tough Fruite de Jazz (F7a) which had some crazy
moves on smears and mono pockets (for those not up to date with climbing lingo
no feet and one finger).
One of the days which began with rain we
sheltered at a crag called Forge du Diable. A difficult crag with big roofs and
some loose rock, as well as widely spaced bolts. Below Sam can be seen eyeing
up the moves on the crags test piece Perlimpinpin (F8c) a nails hard roof
climb. If you look carefully you can see the draws hanging in space.
We didn’t spend all the time looking at the
tougher grades. We spent the afternoon relaxing at Le Moulin de Rochereuil,
which is a pleasant roadside crag with some great climbs. Pictured below is
Steph chilling below some of the bouldering whilst in the background Rich
climbs Les Deux Zeffs one of the nicer climbs in the area.
In short the trip was a success in that we
visited a different crag every day, did some hard climbing, some easy, some
scary and some just very enjoyable whilst pushing the gear to the limit. We did
indulge in some fell running in the evenings but the focus was more around the
climbing this trip. It wasn’t all
success though…
The technical t-shirts managed to survive
being worn by sweaty climbers as they moved their way up the routes ending the
day without smelling or becoming saturated. The trousers also preforming very
well notable mention is during the route La Mandragore (La Vieux Breuil) that
involved using the knee for a sharp knee bar – no rips! The hoodies deserve a
quick mention, as they were great for keeping us warm during the climbs and
also kept the wind off during the early evening. The same can be said for the
down jacket and vest as they both kept us all warm during the early and late
evenings.
This trip has shown the durability,
fantastic design and overall great performance from the kit. Keep checking the
blog for more updates from the teams next week away which is based more around
running and the highly anticipated shoe… the zero.
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