Climbing at Cantobre in France

Park the the car in the village of Cantobre perched precariously on the rocky outcrops high above the river Durbie and, rucksacks strapped firmly to your backs, walk along the path that leads to the base of the cliff, lined by large beech trees on one side and a large meadow on the other. The setting is marvelous and in just a few minutes the path leads to the base of "Turbulence": the main cliff with about fifty routes from 7a to 8c. This however is not the only sector and if you continue walking for a couple of minutes you'll reach 3 smaller sectors, equally interesting but with slightly easier routes.

After the initial impact we immediately realized that we'd reached a completely different planet compared to the Tarn; during our visit there we'd set off fairly relaxed, with harnesses full of quickdraws, ready for some fluid stamina climbing, but at Cantobre the name of the game is locking off low! With just a handful of quickdraws and warm biceps what you've got to do is leap from one pocket to the next, performing one magnificent dyno after the other and making sure you don't take flight!

TOPO: Cantobre, France