Billy Ridal Climbing

Road Trip part 3 – Ceuse

After an overnight stop, we reached Marseille and picked up Alex’s mum and brother from the airport, then headed for Ceuse. We arrived to find hail littering the ground and huge black streaks prevalent along the whole of Ceuse. Not a good start. We got our tents up and considered what climbing would be possible the following day. We woke to sunshine and a lot less wet streaks on the rock far above and so teaming up with the Scots - William and Alexander Bosi and Robbie Phillips – we headed out. This being my first time at Ceuse, I hadn’t had the displeasure of having to walk up to it but had previously been informed how grim it was. Needless to say it did not disappoint and over an hour later we reached Grand Face, the sector we had chosen due to the fact it stays dry in the rain as the forecast didn’t look good.

The rock looked brilliant and was dry for the most part. We started up a 6c+ with a surprisingly difficult start through a short roof and then easy, yet enjoyable, climbing to the top. We then moved to an interesting and varied looking 7c. It started on thin face climbing on poor crimps and precarious footholds, it then abruptly changed as you reached a short roof which required a big span between decent holds and then an insecure toe hook to hold you in whilst you gained the good holds over the lip. From there, there was a series of big moves between positive pockets that finally brought you into a draining final section on good but sloping sidepulls that lead you to the chain. After watching Alex on- sight it, I managed the Flash. After a lot of procrastinating and chatting whilst eating lunch, Alex, William and I headed over to Lami de Tout le Monde an 8b which both I and Alex had our eyes on as a project for whilst we were there.

Each of us tried the climb in turn to work the moves and for me at least it felt very hard! It starts full on with some big moves and bad crimps that move into what was, for me, the technical crux. There is a good hold just above the second clip, from there you reach out to a terrible half pad two finger pocket which gave me just enough to fall into an okay crimp next to it. From these two holds you have to lunge for a good three finger pocket but it is hard to hit due to the fact it is a small slot you have to get your fingers into. Here you clip then make a big span up to an awful sloping edge and thump catch and then you’re supposed to come into an okay crimp before getting the huge jug rest, but my fingers just weren’t up to holding me on those holds. After a bit of testing I found the only way that worked for me was a dyno up to the jug which was just in my reach, but it was blind as the hold is a long way back and you could easily end up grabbing bad crimps further forward making the jump much harder. You could chill out here for a bit but the climbing before hand is not really long enough to get you pumped only to power you out which makes the next section much harder as it requires a log and precise move up to a good crimp of an average finger slot. The move is not very hard in isolation but you are tired and it is easy to mess up. After this you get a much worse rest on a flat shelf, you then get a heel hook next to your hands and swing up to a rubbish devil hang on two half bad sloping pockets. Keeping as much weight on your heel as possible you throw up for another sloping pocket then cross to another. Finally you reach out to an arête, get an intermediate then go for a good side pull. From there, there are a couple more difficult moves before you reach jugs that take you to the top. It took me a long time to work out the moves and after William and Alex had a quick go each to link bits together we found ourselves losing light. Not wanting to walk down in the dark without head torches, we set off as quickly as we dared in the half light.

The Next day we opted to head for a less steep sector - Berlin. I started by trying to on- sight Blocage Violent a notoriously difficult and pumpy 7b+. I got pumped concerningly quickly as I tried to make upward progress on the sea of sloping pockets. By the fifth clip (not helped by the fact that my five year old chalk bag had finally given up and snapped by the third clip) my hands were uncurling and slipping so I fell. Alex got on and did it and then I quickly followed suit battling my way to the top as my forearms protested to the immense pump that this route induces. By this point the crag had been invaded by young Americans, we quickly realised that they were all wads and I began to feel quiet intimidated and self conscious of my climbing as I was surrounded by a bunch of 11–16 year olds that had climbed up to 8c+!

We chatted to them a bit and I felt more comfortable but still very weak comparably. Merko, Ashima, Drew, Alexi and Shaun who along with being beasts were also great fun to play table tennis with. I continued the day by trying Galaxy another supposed 7b+ which was nails. After three goes I finally did it and Alex also managed Dolce Vita an 8a+ next to Blocage that he was trying. Both knackered, we attempted the classic 7c Berlin which along with our fatigue, the stiff grading and the fact a vital hold on the route was soaking making any movement onto or off it nearly impossible, unsurprisingly we didn’t manage it. The next day we rested, filling the day with ping pong and The Walking Dead.

The following day, we intended to get up early and head for the morning sector Cascade, this wasn’t all that successful and by the time we reached the rock the sun was already beginning to come round onto the face. Undeterred we quickly did the 7a warm up and then Alex tried Violent Illusion a steep crimpy 8b. Apparently the climb is basically a v8 into a 7b+ but with the time we had due to the sun coming around made it difficult to make much progress. We retreated further up the crag to try to avoid the sun; I did Super Mickey on-sight a classic 7b which is easy climbing up to a pleasant crux at the top, on some positive crimps, making for an enjoyable route. Finally, defeated by the sun we walked over to Biographie to chill in the shade for a bit. From there we returned to Lami de Tout le Monde. I tried it a couple of times but the moves felt as hard as ever and I was having trouble keeping my fingers warm which was making the crimps at the start extremely painful to use. Alex sieged the route having multiple attempts but was being shutdown by a move across into a small pocket by the third clip. Frustrated and starting to doubt whether he could do the move at all, it took him 15 attempts before finally getting through the move. He got right to the last crux but with the amount of attempts he had, he was boxed and it wasn’t going to happen.

Day 5 at Ceuse and planning on returning again to Lami seeing as though Alex had got so close last time. However on the way across we were distracted by some friends trying Lapinerie an awesome looking 7b that had a crux at the top which involved a big dynamic move to the finishing pocket. Jokingly I said I was going to static the move whilst chalking up and then doing a French blow. In reply Andy (a Scottish guy who climbs at Ratho) said “Eyebrow”. I was confused by this statement. He then explained that if someone makes a ridiculous statement and someone calls eyebrow then they must do what they claimed or they lose an eyebrow. Now quite worried, I headed off. Nearly dropping the start slab I made it to the overhang and got through the big moves leading up to the crux sequence. With no idea what I was doing I ended up using a pathetic sloping crimp with an okay thumb catch in order to reach the pockets before the final big move. I chalked up and did a French blow then desperately grabbed back onto the hold before I fell, I then looked up at the finishing jug and went for it static...ish. I’d kept my eyebrow, just.

From Lapinerie we continued across to Lami but then got distracted again by the impressive overhang that houses Bourinator 8a and Slow Food 8b+ that Alex had tried the previous day. Psyched to do Bourinator I gave it a go but as expected fell on the first of the three crux moves at the second clip, getting more rope burn in the process which nicely restricted the movement of my leg. I pulled back on and did the move this time and after a quick rest on the rope climbed to the top through the other two crux moves. Happy with how I had done I gave it another go. The start is extremely steep, it starts by an awkward move into a huge undercut then straight away you have the crux move which is a big throw up to a sloping pocket, you catch this then jam a bomber toe hook in the undercut which holds you solidly to cross up into a better pocket and then go to a decent flat edge. Fully extended you have to release the toe hook and take the swing which is quite hard. Clip, breathe, then stick a heel up by your hand and reach across into a two finger pocket and then into a good undercut. Stand up on the undercut and then another big throw to a good pocket. On hitting this you have a couple more moves before a massive no hands rest. Surprised I had managed to get through the hardest section on my second go, I continued through a couple of clips of jugs before reaching the final crux section. You get a crimpy undercut and reach up to an okay pocket, reaching up into a terrible sloping dish as an intermediate and then give it everything to jump for the sinker jug that marks the end of the hard climbing. I stuck comfortably and made it to the top at which point I took a victory jump. After Alex had had a couple of goes on Slow Food and one on Bourinator, we found that after three weeks solid of use and having held multiple falls one, end of the rope was ruined with the core showing through in five places. Switching to the other end we decided to try to get a bit of mileage in before we headed down.

We started on a flat 7a+ which perfectly followed up a blue stripe the whole way. Alex did it first commenting on the fact he had had to use undercut monos to get through one sequence. I set off but after a few clips, cloud descended on the crag and I found myself climbing in an eerie mist that restricted my vision to just a couples of clips. It was an odd sensation looking around, I felt completely alone on the wall. It was extremely peaceful there on tenuous moves but easy enough but I was still aware of my surroundings and able to appreciate the feeling of being there, in my own little bubble. The climbing was not the best in the world but the situation and the feeling whilst climbing it made this my favourite climb of the trip.

Lowering down the mist cleared and we moved on, but by this point the light was becoming quite thin. I didn’t realise the next climb was as long as it was, so I didn’t take as many clips or a head torch with me as I didn’t think I would be on it long enough for it to get dark. The climbing was really quite hard, big moves on sloping holds requiring high feet to reach long distances between the bad pockets, it felt quite exposed and intimidating, not helped by the fact that when I did get near the top I ran out of clips and light. Missing out a clip on already run out climbing I continued blindly to the top hoping to find a carabiner to lower off so I would not have to down climb the moves below. I found the chain and found a small but okay looking Mallion. Very relieved to reach the ground, it was Alex’s turn this time in the pitch black and only a head torch. The big moves made it difficult to read with light, so in the dark finding the right holds and right sequence was hard. After some time Alex managed to dog his way to the top and remove the clips. We chilled out for a while listening to some of Robbie’s extensive dub step collection whilst some people tried Lapinerie.

The next day we rested again. We played a load more Ping pong, I learnt how to do a Rubixs cube, watched more of The Walking Dead and then finished the day with a barbeque.

Starting to run out of time, Alex and I were determined to finish off Lami. We warmed up by doing Bibendum, a 7b+ next to Lami that I managed to on-sight. Once you strip the route you can take a huge swing out and end up very high up in the air due to the steep incline of the hill. We messed around on the swing and almost collided, then went to get Lami done. Alex went first getting through the move he had struggled with before first go but still not fully warmed up fell off a couple moves higher. Next up my go and managed to get a high point, falling off one move from the jug rest at the end of the bouldery start. Dogging up higher I revised my sequence for the top crux which made it feel a lot more achievable, it finally felt like I could actually do the climb. On Alex’s next go he fell off the very last hard move. Furious he quickly got back on, it finally came together and he cruised to the top. In celebration he took a victory jump, this meant I was pulled up on the belay and swung into the rock pile which is used to reach the start holds. Unprepared for the swing and wearing only flip flops I managed to cut my big toe open and create a massive blood blister under the nail of another, that was the end of my climbing for that day. Unsurprisingly the walk down sucked, as did the walk back up the next day.

I was a bit unsure whether I wanted to climb on my foot the next day, so I procrastinated a bit before deciding to try Changement de Look, a popular and harshly graded 7b+. However as I waited in the queue to get on the route the heavens opened and we had a dumping of rain. We bailed to the Bourinator roof to shelter from the rain. With little dry other than Bourinator and Slow Food which both had wet top outs still after the downpour, I was not psyched to try anything and had a miserable day watching people try the two routes. One good thing though was that William got eyebrowed after claiming he could campus two clips of Bourinator. Impressively, after working it a bit he actually managed it. The next day was forecast rain again, so we decided to sack it off - more ping pong. As it was mine and Alex’s last night there and we were all quite psyched for proper food, we headed out to a pizza place nearby. We stuffed ourselves on pizza and even had some desert pizza (in case you’re wondering it’s even better than it sounds!) After food, conversation turned to a lake that some of the Scots had been to a few days before and a large concrete structure that they had jumped off into the lake. At this point Robbie and Jay jokingly said they should go and jump off it “Eyebrow”. Ten minutes later we were at the lake laughing as they jumped blindly into the dark water below. This whole eyebrow thing was definitely starting to get out of hand.

The final day in Ceuse and yet more rain was forecast, looking up at the predominantly dark rock above most people decided not to bother walking up. Unfortunately our stash bag with the rope and quickdraws was up there so we had to walk up no matter what. Barely half way, the rain came. Unable to shelter from it, we continued as the rain intensified and became hail, absolutely sodden and miserable we reached Biographie to some concerned stares and laughter from the Americans. The entire crag looked soaking and even after closer inspection we found only six lines even moderately dry, four of them were 8b+ and above the other two I had already done. We grabbed the stash bag turned around and walked back down.

All in all Ceuse had been a mixed bag, the climbing undoubtedly is some of the best in the world and when the weather is good it is a fantastic place to climb despite the walk in. But when it’s the worst summer in 50 years there and there’s a thunderstorm almost every night it wasn’t the best. The weather along with my toes being mangled up meant I didn’t achieve what I wanted to in Ceuse. 8b had been my goal for the trip and just as I felt I was getting close we had three days of rain and I couldn’t try it at all. Still, something for the future…..

The last couple of days we spent in the Verdon Gorge where we intended to do some paragliding but yet again we were denied it by the weather. On the last day, we sat on a beach enjoying the sun before I flew home and Alex and Phil set off for the European championships in Imst.

Although I didn’t achieve what I wanted, it was still brilliant to go to so many world class venues and sample so many different routes and enjoy it all with all the awesome people we met, especially in Ceuse.

I want to thank Phil and Alex for giving me the opportunity to go on this trip.

Finally the three things I’ll remember most are:

Billy el Omnibus,
Jungle Speed,
and “Eyebrow!”.

None of them are climbing related and probably won’t make much sense -but there you go.

PS. Sorry about the lack of photos in this blog but without Phil there with his camera, we failed at actually taking any photos.