Annot
The gentleness of sandstone, the violence of cracks.
With Stacha, Aude & Guillaume.
Drip drop, the weekend looks rainy in the Rhône-Alpes region. Just time to gather all the necessary hardware and we're on our way to a site unique in France: Annot! Pure sandstone, perfect cracks, walls riddled with holes and only two bolts for the belay: real class!
We are spellbound by the majesty of these structures, an irresistible invitation to climb. In this exceptional environment, all styles come together. Bouldering forests, fully bolted turnkey routes and lines that must be entirely self-protected live side by side in harmony. It is for this last category that we climb up heavily loaded.
The atmosphere of this tiered site is special: walkers can stroll along suspended ledges beside huge, virgin, compact slabs whose flatness is abruptly broken by immense straight cracks shooting upwards: that's where the routes are.
Sometimes, subtler lines dare to take on the slabs for committing, uncompromising climbing. Placing protection then becomes an art that must be mastered without a false note.
In contrast with the openness and warmth of the ledge sectors, the Chambre du Roi spreads out its intimate, dark meanders like so many corridors of a huge forgotten mansion. Here too, obvious lines, all seemingly major, offer themselves to the climber. It is cool there and the diffuse light softens the relief (but not the climbing!).
The approach of the first ascensionists, combined with the special geology of the site, has created an exceptional place for trad climbing in France.
Photo gallery...