We just spent 3 days on the nice limestone rock in the Aravis with Muriel, a Swiss climber who wanted to discover climbing routes in Annecy area.
With a 5c/6a on top rope, the plan was to make her more confident as a leader.
Monday we went to Le Grand Bornand in a Jalouvre crag offering a good choice of 5th grade routes. We spent the morning refreshing rope work and safety manoeuvres for a good leader climbing behaviour. Then we went to “Le Lord Anglais”, a multipitch route of 200m, 5c max. Our first plan was to climb another route but a big and stubborn Ibex who was climbing in front of us -without rope- made us change the plans. The climb was good with varied styles and the last pitch a bit more difficult with some aid points to avoid 6c movements. Rain caught us at the time we were at the car.
Tuesday we drove to le Sappey cliff wich is 30 min far from Annecy. Here the alpine is beautifull and plenty of sheeps. After 1 hour walking, we reached the route starting. The first pitch with some wet holds warmed us quickly and Muriel leaded on reverse. The rock is plenty of nice grooves which need a unusual opposition climbing technique for limestone. Rain added a bit of difficulty on the two last pitches, but we managed to reach the top. We went down walking under heavy rain showers, happy not having taken too much time on the first part.
Wednesday, La Rosière crag saw us for a single pitch as a deluge of water pooring from the sky made us abseil down quickly. The grooves in the rock were instantly transformed in small streams and no more climbing was possible. That is sometimes the law of outdoor sports, next time we will enjoy a dry weather more…