We have been back from France for almost a week now and it’s hard to believe how fast time passed whilst we were out there. Time might fly when you’re having fun, but it’s frustrating when you can’t seem to work out how it frittered away so fast! Lots of exciting and interesting things happened on the trip (despite some weather-related setbacks) and it’s safe to say that we have both pigged out on enough delicious French food to last us for the next while…
My previous blog was written from Grenoble as I was trying to fit in some last-minute training before the European Championships in Chamonix. Chris drove over from Chamonix after completing his alpine course and we managed to get outdoors for two days in the week before the competition. We did some filming at Ablok Salle d’Escalade (probably the best boulder wall I’ve been to and where I used to train a fair bit whilst living in Grenoble) and back at the Entre-Prises offices. It felt odd to be back in a very hot and sweaty Grenoble after being so used to the rather chilly alpine winter climate that I experienced during my stay there, and I found out that I’m especially attractive to the Grenoblois mosquitos! However, we had decent cragging weather and managed to spend a day at St Paul de Varces with Fred and Léo from EP. Long routes on some interesting limestone formations made for a fun day out and gave me some last-minute endurance training before Chamonix. Chris filmed me onsighting a tricky 7b and we even brought a cheeseboard with a selection of the finest cheese from the Fromagerie des Alpages to the crag which ended up as a gooey mess by the end of the day…
The Fromagerie in Grenoble
Léo and Fred at St Paul de Varces
The following day we climbed at La Goulandière in Presles with Meta from EP. The crag was very busy but we still managed to get some footage of me struggling up a strenuous 7c! That night a massive thunderstorm erupted over Grenoble which made the time-lapse of the drive home particularly interesting. As my first senior competition was approaching, I did some last minute training at Espace Vertical 2 before we headed off to Chamonix in the evening. We were very fortunate to be able to stay in Jack Geldard’s flat for the following week and that night we met up with him for some drinks before heading to Pierre à Laya the next day – a crag not far from Chamonix with some spectacular views. I warmed up on the most aesthetic 6c I have ever climbed – a meandering crack which weaved its way up a vertical face. Jack had told me about a classic (but exceedingly difficult!) 7c opened by Patrick Edlinger around the corner and said he would buy me a pizza if I could onsight it! I tried my best but unfortunately fell at the crux 3/4 of the way up the wall. It was fiendishly technical and unrelenting rest-wise, so it was a true test of my endurance (not my strongest feature at the moment!) Accepting the fact that I had lost the pizza bet, I had fun trying the next section which proved to be equally as tricky and lived up its name “Docteur, j’ai peur!” or “Doctor, I’m scared!”.
With Chris and Jack in Chamonix
Chris got some good footage from this route and as the sun was starting to hit the headwall we decided to head back and chill for the evening before heading to EpicTV headquarters (the studio!) the next day to do some filming and interviews. We spent the following day eating ice cream and preparing for the European Championships on Friday. I felt a bit nervous about competing for the first time in years and for the first time as a senior but I was equally excited to be taking part in such a big event with such a beautiful setting. The wall was massive with long, winding routes and featuring Mont Blanc as a backdrop. I had a feeling my endurance wouldn’t quite be up to standard for this style but I was still very excited to be taking part. Standing on the stage at the athlete presentation alongside Dave (Barrans) and the GB paraclimbing team was a pretty memorable experience and my first time wearing a GBR vest after a 4 year break from international competitions felt slightly foreign yet also strangely familiar. 
The competition itself was tough but equally gave me an enjoyably enlightening return to the competition scene. I didn’t get too nervous, I could still remember how to compete, perhaps better so than before, with a stubborn determination to fight through the pump! My fitness – not being so hot after a year of bouldering and recreational climbing – was ultimately my downfall, but I was satisfied with a 36th place in my first major senior international and it gave me a taste for what to expect in Briançon (just one week later….eeek!) We also managed to squeeze in some filming, photos, interviews and media stuff for various websites during the finals, which was an inspirational evening of climbing, especially from Dinara and Romain! A massive party was held in the square afterwards, but being tired and worried about getting back to Les Houches we successfully hitch-hiked back home with two radical local dudes playing terrible music!
2nd Qualifier in Chamonix…Mont Blanc in background
In the week that followed, we struggled against the weather and a lack of available climbing partners. We were lucky enough to be able to stay in the flat of some friends who I knew from Edinburgh who are now living in Chamonix, Tamsin and Tim. We managed a great day out in Giétroz just over the border in Switzerland, which was in one of the most beautiful settings I’ve ever climbed in. Quaint Swiss cottages and farmhouses lined the approach path which then winded down into a massive gorge (which can apparently fill with LOTS of water at any time depending on the rainfall and the activity of the dam….scary!) I tried a classic 8a called “Rêve de Singe” which had a fairly straightforward start, a boulder problem in the middle and then a beautifully intricate headwall on crimpy sidepulls and undercuts. After working the moves I was aiming to complete it, but unfortunately the stopper move in the middle spat me off. I continued up the headwall with no rest as extra training and lowered off, tired and hot but having enjoyed the route. Chris managed to fit in some climbing too and got a big fright from a bird flying out of a pocket he was holding – no feathered-friends were harmed in the making of this film!
For the next few days we took it easy. We met up for drinks with Jack and Björn from UKC and were invited for pizza with Jon Griffiths and friends. I also managed a catch-up with Sarah, another British friend now living in Chamonix – it’s a small world! We visited a roadside crag in Chamonix and did a classic 7a and Chris gave me a lesson in placing gear (more on that to come…) and the next day had a light session on some boulders not far from Les Houches. We managed about an hour before the storms hit and we bolted back down to the car. That night Chris cooked an amazing Tartiflette – an alpine dish made from potatoes, lardons, onions and Reblochon cheese. Despite it hitting temperatures of over 30 degrees in the daytime, this winter dish tasted amazing and was certainly good preparation for the upcoming World Cup in Briançon!
A deliciously successful evening…
Having finished our filming in Chamonix, we headed to Briançon via the spectacular Col de Sarenne – a very atmospheric drive in the rain with low cloud and mist. This road winds down a massive valley with beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. It was odd to be driving there with very little snow left over, as the last time I took the coach on that route in winter the landscape was draped in pure white snow! We eventually arrived in Briançon (umbrella at the ready) and registered for the competition. The presentation of the competitors was held inside a casino in a small conference room and being called up on stage as the only competitor from Great Britain was quite a nerve-wracking experience. This begs the question: Where are all the other British lead climbers? It was here that I was reunited with the McCarron family, John Ellison and the Planetgrimpe team. After mingling and eating all the nibbles in the room we eventually made it out to dinner at a brasserie with the McCarrons, John, Graeme and all of the French officials. Qualifiers for the women had been brought forward to the morning due to a poor weather forecast, so unfortunately I missed out on a lie-in our lovely chalet in les Vigneaux. (thank you Helen from Alpsun!)
We arrived bright eyed and bushy tailed (ish) at the competition venue early on Saturday morning. The clear blue skies didn’t give even the faintest hint that rain would be coming later as the competition started, men and women climbing simultaneously. I was out fairly late on my routes which gave me ample time for fitting in some filming, warming up and generally just faffing about. The routes looked shorter and more bouldery than in Chamonix and I was excited to give them my all. Unfortunately after climbing about 5 moves on my first route and clipping the first quickdraw, I was confronted by a panicky official who pulled on my leg and told me that I should come down as the camera operator wasn’t ready…I was told to unclip and climb down and was given 2 minutes of rest to recover. I was a little bit shaken as I was convinced that I had done something wrong or had forgotten something, but I kept it together and started again. I was just below the roof and feeling confident, I pulled through the roof, accidentally left a clip a bit too late, got it in eventually and pulled onto the headwall. Two moves later I was off, pumped and feeling frustrated that I had little forearm endurance. As it turned out, however, I had placed 28th on this route, just two places from making semi-finals. I didn’t know this at the time – for a while I was in 16th provisionally as both routes were climbed simultaneously and it was therefore not possible to know a ranking until the end. I knew my first route had gone fairly well thanks to some hard moves appealing to my strength, but the second route looked very different – more moves with sustained, easier climbing. I knew I would have to fight hard and do my best to climb quickly in order to not get pumped. Just before I was about to climb, the heavens opened! Brilliant conditions, just like back home in Scotland! Fortunately the wall remained dry and I gave a valiant attempt at trying to climb more than 30+ moves (as I had reached on the first route) failed…30+ again! I seem to have a threshold of around 30 moves at the moment before getting pumped…need to improve on this! For a while I was stuck in 26th position, with Graeme getting a bit excited about it, but I knew there were some exceptionally strong climbers still to go. I finished in 33rd, an improvement on Chamonix in a larger and stronger field, so in all I was rather pleased!
Eating rope…
Pulling hard, 2nd qualifier
That evening, after having escaped the showers of rain, we ate at the Brasserie again with Sheila and co, and were joined by the IFSC.tv guys – Dan and Mike. I somehow got myself roped into co-commentating for the semi-finals the next day alongside Dan. This turned out to be a good laugh although a bit daunting at first. I managed not to make too much of a fool of myself, despite saying a few things which could be interpreted differently….I won’t mention any of them on here but they certainly amused Dan! I did the same for the finals and the CAC presentation which took place that evening – it was great to see some of the money raised so far being passed on to La Ligue Contre le Cancer by John, Sheila and Sophie. After the finals a gathering with lots of wine and cheese (and Graeme’s selection of British cheese to rival the French) took place and afterwards we headed back to Les Vigneaux with a lift we had found.
Dan, John and I
On the Sunday our plan was initially to head to Ceuse early on and do some filming there for 3/4 days, but we ended up having other work to finish off for the competitions and so decided to leave it until the Monday. Up early and with the car re-loaded with our 45,6989 or so bags and kit, we headed to Ceuse – the world-famous crown of rock that sits proudly above the town of Gap. First though, we stopped off near Mont-Dauphin to buy quite possibly the best quiche we have ever eaten – a juicy, chewy base with courgettes and onions, and a crispy crust. Perfection.
At the campsite we bumped into some friends and lots of climbers from the competitions. We headed to the crag and slogged up the hill, Chris with all of the filming gear and me overheating and feeling drowsy and nauseous after just 15 minutes. Having finally made it to the foot of the cliff, we warmed up at Demi Lune and then headed straight for L’arcademicien 8c. I managed up until the 5th quickdraw on the onsight where I came off on a tricky section. I worked the next few clips, enjoying the crimps but getting puzzled by some sequences. After about 20 minutes on the route, the thunder and lightning started drawing in. Due to the fact I was carrying a large pole of metal – the clipstick – we thought it wise to abandon ship and try something sheltered! The rain was coming in thick and fast and it wasn’t a pleasant place to be, although the landscape was very atmospheric. Alex wanted to try Slow Food 8b+, so I had a play on this (it was one of few routes keeping dry in the roof section) The next day was a bit of a nightmare – there were queues for almost every route we wanted to try and film on and the weather forecast looked poor for later in the day. After testing the water on a few routes but not feeling too motivated, the thunder and lightening arrived again with some showers not far away. We had wanted to film the classic 7c “Berlin”, but again as I was clip-sticking up with the static line we weren’t keen on hanging around and so decided to call it a day and head to Cascade the following day, as rain was forecast in the afternoon and Cascade is in the shade in the morning. Fortunately it was third try lucky for us, we had a great morning at Cascade filming one of the classic routes and then headed back down to the campsite and then a celebratory pizza in La Freissinousse.
Cascade sector, Ceuse
The next morning we left early for L’Argentière la Bessée, where I would be competing in the TAB Tout-à-Blocs International Open. I had really been looking forward to this event and had always fancied participating in it. It really was a fun-based event with kids everywhere, barbecues, stalls and water fights! There were 40 blocs and each boulder was allocated points by dividing 1000 by the number of successful tops, so harder problems were worth more strictly speaking. The main thing which held me back here was the heat, 35 degrees in full sunlight really drained me physically. I have to thank Chris for running around like mad getting me tshirts soaked in water and for forcing me to drink water even when I didn’t want to…otherwise I may have ended up with heat exhaustion!
I was hot…photo by Julianne McCarron
We had two sets of 2 and a half hours to complete the problems with a break in between for the other group to climb. Chris competed too so it was cool to be able to give him some beta for his round, even though I was running back and forth into the shade to recover fairly often! After a slow start in the first session, I perked up a bit for the second one and managed 25 of the 40 boulders. My tactics weren’t great, a lot of the time I was hesitating between which boulders to try and I’d even missed some harder boulders by focussing too much on easier ones. In the end I came 14th out of 40 women, some of whom are world-cup boulderers! I was really pleased with this result, although I felt I’d let myself down by not thinking carefully about the format of the qualifiers. Achievements of the day were getting a knee bar on number 13, completing the horrible blue mantel and managing to do the pink mantel only to fluff the last move. There are photos of how determined I was on this problem, but I can only hope that they never surface… 
Spoke too soon…thanks Chris, I’ll put that video of you singing in the car up soon…
The finals were great fun to watch and film, and we stayed for a bit to soak up the atmosphere at the party (quite literally, as the champagne was sprayed all over us!) We were in no mood to be returning to the UK but we appreciated how much fun the trip had been and equally amazed at how fast time flew by. So much had happened and we had managed to fit a lot of different things into the 6 weeks, with some exciting developments. We made a first pit-stop near Geneva with Chris’ Uncle and Aunt and then made the long journey up to the UK. Both of us were knackered and still are – it will take a few more days yet I think!
Going, going…gone…
What’s next? Some more filming in the UK, some branching out and lots of editing….watch this space!
NatalieBerry 