8th June 2013
Roche Ronde and Calames
Interdit Aux Veoce – 5+ Lead
Zebulon – 5+ – Second (Chris Lead)
Kecsecsa – 6a – Lead (dnf rain)
Our first day of very iffy weather. We awoke to low cloud and very damp conditions. The condensation in the valley is horendous when the humidity is high as it was on this day. With our never ending optimism in full flow we headed for Roche Ronde.
From a distance Roche Ronde looks fairly insignificant nestled below the larger venue of Calames. As you draw near though the scale of this face become more apparent. Its a fairly long and tough walk up through the forest on slippery rounded stones. When you find the base of the crag orientation is not obvious. On this visit we went up the central gap which actually is a nasty approach and I rekon you should avoid this route. There is a more hidden approach which is a lot steeper but is a lot safer and not so polished. Keep your eyes open for a tell tale arrow point leftwards into the trees as you traverse below the lower face.
Unfortunately our luck ran out this time and steady drizzle KO’d any chance of climbing so we trudged out…. only for the sun to come out and transform the day. If we’d waited an hour we would have been OK.
Instead we made our way to Calames and the Presse Puree sector. I kicked off on a tough 5+ called Interdit aux velos. Tucked away in the corner it is innocuous enough, but has a difficult transition from the slab to a rib. A good route to get started on.
Chris’s route Zebulon was in the mould of a trad route, with some tough bridging to start with and a bold move around the bulging overlap. I’d had in mind the idea to try a 6a called Kekcecsa. This is unique in that it has a bolted on flake! The route though looked excellent and I was making good progress when a boom of thunder announced the arrival of a thunderstorm. The circling Griffon Vultures had long gone heading for shelter and we were forced to do the same fleeing off the crag with our rucksacks full of iron mongery.
The thought of being caught out on the crag in a lightning storm is frightening. Even the locals get off quickly when a storm approaches.
With a changeable weather settling in and an unsettled day behind u,s we had to make a decision on whether we stayed or went for Spain. I think there was only one choice really.
