Climbing in/around Marseille, France?
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I'm moving from Seattle to Marseille, France at the end of December. I'll be there for a couple of years for work. I've never climbed in Europe, I'm wondering if anyone here has climbed in the areas around the city? Les Calanques looks like the closet area, and quite beautiful (at least in photos on the internets)--anyone been there/can recommend areas or other areas in France? What is the climbing community like? I'm a pretty mellow climber and like climbing in part because it's a good way to meet interesting new people. There is a climbing gym in the city, I will probably head there at some point to try to meet people, as well (my French is pretty rudimentary but progressing, it will be a good challenge for me). |
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Welcome to France, you could not have found a much better spot for sunny sport climbing, by being in southern Provence. |
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Great, thanks for the info! I'll have to check out that guide book. I figured at first people might be unwelcoming but I'm working on my French (more motivation now) and I'll be working at a university so hopefully that will help a bit. |
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Just got back from there yesterday. Only now starting to post photos + reports, like here and here |
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I was there a couple of years ago. Les Calinques is just about 15 minutes from Marseille. Gorgeous climbing and a backdrop to match. Definitely make the trip to Corsica when you have some free time, that was one of the highlights of a year in Europe for me. Great climbing and no people. |
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Les Calanques are definitely amazing. I was there for a week a couple of years ago. I remember reading that theft was a major nuisance in the parking lots. The guidebook said to leave your car unlocked with nothing inside. |
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Rui Ferreira wrote:speaking fom experience here in Grenoble, the French tend to be a bit "cliquy" and unwelcoming, learn French and quickly if you want to crack through this shell.It might be true that it's difficult for most visitors to get to climb with local residents in France. I have to say that I met most of my French partners first by doing ski-mountaineering together (usually lower commitment and more flexibility than climbing) -- then later we joined again for climbing. I've heard that the social attitudes of many intelligent French people have changed a lot in recent years -- like lots more drivers now are buying non-French cars. But especially with climbing, there are lots of reasons not to choose to do it together with a visitor. Like as an American living around New York, I see lots of requests on web forums by visitors looking for partners to climb in the Gunks -- I mean American visitors, often even from nearby places in the Northeast US. I like climbing in the Gunks, and I do like meeting other climbers, but I almost never respond to these requests. Not due to some "cliquishness". Some reasons: (a) Visitors tend to have their own agenda, often a short "tick list" based on magazine articles or websites. (b) Since I'm often intensely into improving my climbing, I've got my own agenda of what level and style of routes I want to work on right now. Only rarely matches with some visitor's agenda. Or I'm into exploring routes I haven't tried before -- likely not on a visitor's tick list. (c) There's several local partners that I like a lot but for various reasons don't get to climb with so often. Since climbing usually is better done with an even number, and best of all with two, doing it with a visitor either displaces an opportunity with a friend, or invites some juggling to "find a fourth". (d) The visitor might be slow. Or they might fall off on a traverse or overhang and not be able to get back on the route. (e) They might be dangerous. I'm not a trained guide to handle this. (f) I might forget to tell them something critical which locals take for granted. That would be my fault, yet still the consequences might be negative. (g) Afterward they might post a report publicly on the web which gives away some semi-secret beta; or something personal about me which might appear negative. Now add some special reasons that might apply to French climbers with an American visitor: (h) Might feel embarrassed that their English-speaking is not good enough yet. Intelligent (and even more so, younger intelligent) French people nowadays are exposed to lots of English on popular websites and popular music and youtube videos. They are well aware of the acceleration of the linguistic trend to English. But maybe they aren't learning it as fast as some of their friends. (i) Might feel embarrassed that they are not good representatives of modern French society. Worried that afterward the visitor might post some report saying that they encountered some negative "attitude" and claiming it is "typical" of French people. Afraid his friends might see it and feel that he made their whole group look bad to non-French. Therefore, some ideas for how to lower the "cost" or possible fears of local French climbers: (1) Forget your short "tick list". Get really clear in your own mind that your main goal is to make friends with local climbers, to support their climbing agenda. (And if you find that's not fully your goal and you can't give up your tick list, then hire a professional guide for some days). (2) Try to choose a form of climbing that's lower-commitment and offers lots of flexibility: Half-pitch at a large crag with lots of routes. Or bouldering. (3) Be a very good climber already. Or carry prusiks and have really practiced using them to get back on the route after falling off into space. Maybe have a Fifi hook so you can quickly rest at a bolt without requiring your partner to hold your weight on the rope. (4) Do lots of research in guidebooks and websites about local climbing areas and routes (this definitely requires a decent reading knowledge of French, and enough "volume" to develop reasonable guesses about special climbing words not in most dictionaries), so you likely already know lots of things which locals take for granted and forget to tell you. Even more, so you can have intelligent conversations that appreciate in detail how much your local partners know and what they've done. And raise intelligent questions in those crucial conversations about why this or that sector is favored by some wrinkle in today's forecast of wind + sun. (5) Fuel and tolls and car-ownership are expensive in Europe, so having a car and offering to drive it to trailheads is a small positive you can give to partners. (6) Consider openly "advertising" the opportunity for people to use you to improve their English-speaking. Of course some French climbers have no interest in this. But I suspect nowadays in France there's a strong correlation between "wanting to improve English-speaking" and "being a rather interesting person". . (Of course this strategy requires you to get clear between "climbing with local partners" and "improving your own French-speaking") Good luck, Ken |
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Hi i am living just outside of Marseiles since january. I am from czech republic but i have lived in Phoenix and in Yosemite for a while. Now i am based in Istres, France for few years. |
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This is all really helpful, thanks a bunch guys. I was looking at Corsica just as a fun place to visit, but hadn't even thought to see if it had climbing, so I will have to visit there and climb there for sure. |
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Also, is there a good percentage of women climbers in France? I've mostly been climbing with other women lately, for some reason this makes me push myself more. But I have no problem climbing with guys. |
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Dom wrote: |
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Langley, |
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langley wrote:I'll be bringing my skis/touring gear along with me, although Marseille is fairly far from the mountainsLess far than lots of Americans routinely drive for weekends of backcountry skiing. France geography looks big in the context of Europe, but not so big compared to the western US. So get in touch if you want to do some ski touring say late February thru mid-April (and early May). Pindryc Milan: I'd be happy to meet you for some skiing, especially if you make it all the way to the Alpes du Nord (though on weekends I often have other local partners closer to me). The A7 motorway is a great N-S artery -- the question is about affording the high fuel and toll costs. Trains might work for skiing with a lift-served ski station as a base, but for accessing most backcountry terrain (outside Chamonix) most serious French skiers use a car to get to trailheads -- or are members of a club with access to a bus or van, which ties neatly with partner-connection strategy (1) above. langley wrote: > "the city of Marseille is supposed to be hellish to drive in" It does take serious concentration, and I guess there's a learning curve to discover what you need to watch out for. A GPS with really good digital map made a big difference for me in navigating thru Marseille. I've found the drivers mostly follow the laws (about as much as in New York). The crux might turn out to be finding a parking space. Watch out for roundabouts which work opposite to all others in France, because they are marked to follow the rule of "priorite a droite" - (Really need to learn about that rule -- it's even more important for some small towns and rural areas of France). . (But if you're at the university at Luminy, driving in the city to get to climbing is much less of a concern) . For easier driving access to more of the better climbing I would suggest living out toward the east of Marseille. > "is there a good percentage of women climbers in France?" At the Espace Vertical gyms around Grenoble (or at Mur de Lyon), seems like close to 50% (if that's what you mean by "good"). On a busy evening, at any given time a substantial percentage of those might be leading up some long overhanging pitch. > "for some reason this makes me push myself more." ? A different reason from why that works to make me push ? Ken |
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Well, I'm here in Marseille now if anyone sees this thread and happens to want a climbing partner in Marseille, feel free to contact me! My job starts on Monday, though, so I'll have to see how that goes in terms of work-time. |
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So much good information in here that I won't try to add any more - except that the UKC guys know a LOT about climbing in France. |
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Here are some links to some climbing in the South of France. |
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I know this is still a ways out but if you are still looking for a climbing partner, I will be studying abroad in France this summer and am looking for someone to climb with from June9-16th. Check out my profile and let me know if you'd be interested! |
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Hey, I just saw this. For sure, send me a message if you end up needing a partner in June! |
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My climbing partner and I are going to be in Cassis the last week in October. We'll be looking for moderate routes to climb. If that doesn't sound too boring, it would great to climb with someone who knows the area. |
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Moderate is definitely not too boring for me, send me a message if you want to meet to climb or just want a bit of advice. I have not gotten out as much as I would like but I've been to a few places in the Calanques and St. Victoire. |
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Hi: |