France beta needed

Bonjour,

Im going to France in two weeks for a two week trip. I am going to be renting a car in Paris going to Fountainbleau then traveling down to Avignon to do some limestone sport climbing. I am also going to try to climb in Verdon Gorge. Does anyone recommend any climbing or just great spots to hit up on the way from Fountainbleau to Avignon? Or any must go to crags in south to middle France. Any other beta is appreciated, camping situations, cheap climber friendly hostels, etc. merci for the beta.

Rob

Don't rent a car. It is expensive and the tolls on the highways are crazy expensive. You can get virtually every where in France by train. Make sure to enjoy all that great French food!

Depending on how long you are going for a car actually makes a lot of sense. You can get almost anywhere by public transit of some sort but it can take quite awhile, for example to get to Ceuse when I was there, if you did not have a car you had to figure out when and where to meet the school bus driver who would take you up to the camp ground after his shift was up, needle to say 1 trip a day and if you miss it you are loosing a day. My wife and I went from Buoux to Ceuse in a matter of half a day and some people we were climbing with in Buoux met us later in Ceuse and the trip took them 2 or 3 days and one of them had made the trip before and had inside beta. Also my impression from a 3 week stay in Font is that getting to each of the individual locations pretty much requires a car, they are very spread out.

Crags, I hope you get lucky enough with the weather to be able to climb in the Verdon. Ceuse is great but not really the right season, though you can chase sun all day if need be, we climbed there in the middle to late October in 2001 and the temps were great in the sun.

If you can avoid the car by any means, do it. Tradster is right about the ridiculous tolls, but the other issue is gas prices. When I was in Paris this summer, we paid about 3.50 euros per liter which equated to around $11 per gallon. As of yesterday, the exchange rate was at about $1.30 per euro which is better than 6 months ago, but still not great. Trains would probably be cheaper in the end if you can buy a railpass, but definitely less convenient and its possible there is no stop at your destination. Also, if you do decide to rent a car, watch out for the speed camera boxes. We got nicked by a few before we realized what they were which was a shocker when we got the bill a few months later (in the area of $1500!) HTH

Trains are a great way to travel intercity, but won't work to get you to the climbing areas. I think you will need a car.

It's nice to have a car in Font. The bouldering is a bit spread out and not too close to town. Ceuse also I would agree with Lee, it's up on a hill far from town and hitch hiking up there is a pain in the ass. Awesome crag though, probably the best limestone I have ever seen, but be prepared for "sporty" routes. The Verdon is also great and really nice to have a car for. The public transit is way better than the U.S. but only to get from point A to point B and the crags are never in point A or B. Have fun.

You'll need a car if you want to use your time to it's upmost. It's worth the investment for a trip to France. Make the most of it.

Ne soyez pas un tel femme devant le Français

CAR FOR SURE........

You can get to the Louve with public transit, but climbing area, give me a break.

Most Tourist Information offices will have the local climbing guide book.
The Verdon is awesome, but don't leave anything in your car...hmmm rappel 600' into a gorge and climb all day, thieves figured that one out. But the time of the year your heading there you should be OK. I climbed there in the first week of December and we had the place to ourselves and had a blast.

Merci for all the beta. we are renting a car to make things easier we actually got a good deal because it is off season. I am flying out sunday. The plan is a couple days in font, couple in chamonix, then a week in the avignon region, verdon, limestone cliffs in the area. I will try to post a trip report when I get back.

tootalltim very funny .... fermer le bouche.

Rob

i second the opinion on needing a car to get around. there are literally hundreds of incredible crags in the avignon region, but very out of the way. look for the jingo wobbly guide to europe, gives overview of areas by region, then in each town, check in with the tourist bureau - even the tiniest towns have these - they typically have local guides, even free xeroxes of the local routes. pretty impressive how climber friendly they are there!

rob rebel wrote:Or any must go to crags in south to middle France. Any other beta is appreciated, camping situations, cheap climber friendly hostels, etc.

Spent three weeks in the Grenoble to Nice area in late August and September. Good on ya for gettin' a car. Otherwise, you'd be livin' a train schedule and not doing much climbing (and/or be severely limited getting to most crags).

Probably too cold right now in the Vercors. Grenoble has a gob of climbing right near town, some probably pretty good (we didn't hit any of that stuff). Spent a great day at Orpierre and at Sisteron. You could spend a number of days at Orpierre and a couple at Sisteron. Fairly inexpensive camping options in both places. Sisteron is a neat town to walk around in.

Be very careful with your "stuff" and try to get a car with a big enough trunk for all your gear, in case you do have to park it somewhere sketchy. We didn't have any issues, but, were pretty careful to leave nothing of any value in sight in the car. A friend got her car broken into on the autoroute by Nice while she was sleeping in it. Scary.

If you haven't seen it, the Rock Climbing Europe guidebook by Stewart Green is quite good and covers some of the areas you'll be near. Highly recommend it. Beta has been spot on. I wouldn't suggest lugging the whole thing over there, but, a copy of the pertinant pages doesn't take up much space.

A side trip to the cheese outlet below Mont Aiguille (right off the highway south of Grenoble, prior to Sisteron) is well worth it (their Le Trois Pis rules!).

Cheers!

Rob - I've got a few guidebooks for Font and Tautavel (fun little sport climbing area near Perpignon). if you want to borrow them: peers@mtnboy.net

I would also check out Bioux. We had a couple nice days there.

rob rebel wrote:I am flying out sunday. Rob

Rob is probably drinking French wine right now as we're sitting at our computers at work... Lucky guy!

its easy enough to get to fountainbleau or viaduct from paris i live beside the louvre and it takes me about 40mins to get to fountainbleau

as for any other crags around here good luck without a car or crazy expensive cab rides from the gare to destination (30eu cab ride from gap to ceuse, ceuse to gap 100eu back)

Steer clear of the bakeries in Montmartre; it can be the death of you. Mmmmmm, France.