Slippery Bouldering At Casteljau, France

Truth being told, I can't recommend anyone in their right mind bouldering at Casteljau, France. Me and T stopped there for a couple of days on our way from Spain to Fontainebleau only to notice, that the area is almost abandoned by climbers.

To our disappointment, many boulders at Casteljau are nowadays taken over by green mosh. Only a small part of the almost 500 boulders can be climbed without doing some heavy brushing first. On top of that, the gray limestone is also super slippery, which is why we didn't feel like bothering with the brushes so much.

Overgrown boulder at Casteljau
Maybe bouldering at Casteljau was popular, when the area was first discovered? In any case many of the boulders are now sadly overgrown.

Another moshy boulder at Casteljau
The limestone under all the vegetation turned out to be silky smooth.

There are plenty of circuits, though. If you don't mind the vegetation and slippery rock, you can choose a circuit of any level of difficulty and spend ages climbing in the silent forest near Gorges du Tarn. 

For me, the low traversing problems offered the most fun. As soon as I buried the thoughts of climbing anything gradewise hard or higher than two meters, my eyes opened to a whole bunch of interesting lines squirming from jug to jug just above the ground. Trust me, it's tougher than it sounds!

Low traverse at Casteljau
Most low boulders at Casteljau are strict eliminates, which can make a seemingly easy climb feel tricky.

All in all I'd say April isn't the best time for bouldering at Calsteljau. On a cooler weather the fraction of friction left on the rock might still be on your side and make it possible to enjoy even the higher boulders - while me and T certainly didn't climb any highballs at Casteljau, there's a fair share of those too.

If you're planning on bouldering at Casteljau despite everything, make sure to consider the air humidity as well. The boulders are in the woods and I have the feeling, that they might stay wet or at least very humid for quite a long time after rain. While the big trees make the area sheltered on a windy weather, they also block the wind from blowing the moist away.

Another low and long traverse at Casteljau
Trees and long solid walls make Casteljau a sheltered area for bouldering.

As for camping, Casteljau has only official camping sites to offer. Spots for free camping at Casteljau are hard to find and I believe there is even a sign to forbid it (in French, which the two of us can read only with the help of Google Translate).

For all these reasons, that you can read on and between the lines, me and T didn't stay bouldering at Casteljau for long. We didn't even visit the much complimented Gorges du Tarn nearby, because our plan obligated us to keep on moving towards north.

Luckily we managed to make a short pitstop at Fontainebleau before driving off to enjoy the Finnish summer. More of that in the next post!
Location: 07460 Berrias-et-Casteljau, France

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tips For Climbing And Camping In Chulilla, Spain

Image
Chulilla is one of the more popular climbing destinations, that we've visited so far. The name started popping up as soon as we left Lisbon area and headed towards Spain. "A ton of long, vertical routes", "soft(ish) grades, if you manage to find the rests", "wonderful place to camp" were some of the things we heard about Chulilla before arriving there. And were the rumors true? Read on to find out. These tips for climbing and camping in Chulilla are based on first-hand experience around April 2018.
Equip yourself with plenty of quickdraws + 80 m rope The routes in Chulilla really are L-O-N-G. I recommend packing a set of 20 quickdraws and an 80-meter rope, if you're planning on climbing in the canyon. At some other sectors you might get away with less draws and a slightly shorter rope, but in the canyon you'll end up missing out on a great bunch of amazing routes. Long Dong John (6b+) at Chorreras was my first route there, and of course I had …
Read more

Multi Pitch Climbing In El Chorro: Part 1

Image
You know the "it", that calls you back to a crag time after time? Yeah. The sunny face of Frontales in El Chorro truly has that. This time it summoned me and T to climb some badass multi pitch with a mesmerizing view and clear sky.

We went up and down the two hundred meters high wall several times, so I decided to divide our experiences in two different posts. 
First I'm going to tell you a bit more general info about multi pitch climbing in El Chorro as well as share some tips and recommendations on multi pitch routes near the gorge. After that, I'll move on to the routes near the wicked cave of Poema Roca. You can think of the posts as my non-material Christmas present to all of you looking for a great autumn or winter climbing destination!


So: what's it like to climb multi pitch on limestone, that varies both in color and quality? In general, I'd say at least great. Definitely worth the effort of waking up well before sunrise to be the first one at the bot…
Read more

El Chorro Climbing Shop: Where To Buy Climbing Gear In El Chorro?

Image
Let's imagine, that you're on a road trip and heading towards the world-famous El Chorro to do some climbing. But you're missing a guidebook and a few extra quickdraws would be nice, too. Perhaps you also discovered, that your rope is too short for the lengthy routes. So, where to buy a topo and other climbing gear in El Chorro?


Option number one is to visit the climbing shop in El Chorro. The shop is called Aventur El Chorro and it's located about 3,5 kilometers uphill from El Chorro train station. There's a small selection of climbing gear and clothes for sale.

You can also buy El Chorro climbing guidebook from Aventur El Chorro, like we did. Our version of El Chorro guidebook also covers Desplomilandia and Valle de Abdalajis, and in January 2018 the topo cost 25 euros. I consider the price very reasonable, even though some of the photos could be quite a bit more accurate.


In case you can't find everything you want from Aventur El Chorro, there's a climbi…
Read more