Le Voyage for me is one of if not the best trad first ascent I have ever done
It's an absolute miracle of nature that this thing works
That there's just enough holes that you can link them together
And go all the way from the bottom to the top
Thank you man
Such a cool route
I'm so pumped!
All right, take Jaco!
We are in Annot, in the south of France
Doing some trad climbing on some sandstone!
How did we got here?
Basically because we wanted to try this route, no?
Le Voyage
It's a beautiful climb
It was put up, or like first climbed by a friend of ours
James Pearson
I remember that he told us that he climbed this amazing line
And we saw some pictures
I think it was the reason why we wanted to come here first
I'm currently half way up my project
Really a dream come true
There's very few lines like this around or at least that I've ever seen
I was really amazed when we first got here
I heard that it was good, that the sandstone was really good
But I didn't expect such place
The rock is incredible, it has this amazing features
Like big holes and wachos and crazy features
Annot is famous for climbers and non climbers alike
It's got all these amazing little hiking trails
That lead up on to this big hillside
Covered in huge sandstone walls
It's just a lovely place to spend time
There is like a mixture of sport climbs, trad climbs
There is cracks, they have bouldering as well
It's really like a magic place, you can find everything
I think you just have to search for it there is a huge potential
Annot is also famous with non climbers
Just because of it's spectacular rock architecture
Even as a non climber you can't help but be amazed
When you walk in somewhere like that for the first time
The route is a real voyage
It's like a really long route
It's I think 40 meters or something like that maybe even more
It's very impressive when you enter in La Chambre Du Roi
It's the sector
You go into this tunnel
And you think you just gonna pass a little tunnel
And then you look up
And there's this huge wall, flat wall
And when I arrived I saw the rope hanging
And I didn't realised
Oh that's it, that's actually the wall
I think what is really cool is that it's such a big wall
But there's just one line through it
That makes it even more special
I think the line itself is really cool
Because you fallow this first crack and then the crack stops
And you have this crazy traverse
It looks really blank from down and then you have just this three four pockets
That makes the traverse possible and then you get back to the crack
You climb a few moves, place a bit of gear
Climb a few moves, place some more good gear
And then you get to what is for me the most spectacular part of he route
A smooth blank wall
That would otherwise be totally impossible if it wasn't for the inclusion of several little amazing pockets
And if one or two of them didn't exist the route simply wouldn't work
And these pockets lead you into the main crack of the route
When most of the real difficulty can be found
The first part of the crack is still ok
And then there is this hard section at the very top
Place some gear and you run out
And then you get to a really good jug
And then the last part is still...
It's not hard, but you can definitely fall
You can fuck it up in your head as well
Or you can make a little zipper
You can definitely fall at the end if you're unlucky
You need so much strength in the leg
To try and save a little bit of energy for the top
Caroline suggested perhaps not clipping the last piece of gear
And relying on a knot in the flake
So I decided to give it a go
And then, well this happened
Never ever has it happened to me before
The fall was big but it wasn't giant
And it's not even a tiny knot
It's a number 2 superlight
I heard a Big Bang in the fall
And that's all that's left of that knot
So yeah, it's an adventure up here!
It's still like a mental game
'Cause you have to climb this long section
Without any protections
And even if you know that it's safe
You still have to be focused on the climbing
And not be scared
I think it's a really cool style
Oh my god, this is so nice!
All right, take Jaco!
Super pumpy!
Such a cool route!
I'm so pumpy!
I got the nerve pump, like you said!
Le Voyage for me is one of if not the best trad first ascent I have ever done
Is an absolute miracle of nature that this thing works
That there's just enough holes that you can link them together
One after another
And go all the way from the bottom to the top
When I saw first the movie of Le Voyage from James
I couldn't really believe this was a route in France
And it's so big, it's such a big line
It's not just a piece of rock of ten meters
With one piece of protection
But it's really Le Voyage
And I think it's hard to find
A hard line which is climbable on gear
It's not too sketchy
'Cause as soon as it gets hard then you have less rock features
So it's harder to find some gear
I think that's also what makes the route really special
And I don't know if you have realised it but we really like purple