Baguettes and Limestone Continued: Climbing Les Calanques

Amazing limestone sport-climbing, views of the Mediterranean Sea, delicious sea food, baguettes for days, a sweet flat and an awesome climbing partner all made for what I am calling my best trip yet!

David with baguette in hand staring towards the Arete de Marseille

After our experience on the Verdon Gorge, David and I were stoked and ready to continue our adventures in France. We headed down to the coast and an area called Les Calanques, which are basically big limestone outcroppings into the Mediterranean Sea. Besides their sheer beauty, they are known for their great multi-pitch sport routes. Yes there was some boondoggling, getting lost, going off route, but that was all part of the adventure and a great adventure it was! 

We started out with our arrival into the very quaint and charming town of Cassis. Unfortunately, due to showing up with a rental car, kayak and no hotel reservation, we spent half of the day trying to figure out where to park and where to sleep. Eventually, we settled for camping that evening while we sorted out other options (the camping wasn't the best). Thankfully, we stumbled across an amazing flat for rent that looked over the national park and after one night of camping, we moved into our new home for the week. 

Getting gear sorted at the camp ground

Checking out the town of Cassis

The next day we woke up very ready to get to the climbing. We started out on the Calanque de Sormiou and the Traversée et arête de l'extrême Bec route. The route involved a short approach, then a long traverse out and around the calanque (sometimes just 5-10ft above the water) before reaching the tip and climbing up over the top from there. So amazing. So beautiful. 

The approach

Almost there

Climbing!

Taking a minute to check out the view

Traversing and trying to manage the rope so it doesn't fall in the water

Entering the cave

Referencing the guide book before starting up

Seriously, doesn't get much better than this

Mission accomplished! 

A view of Marseille on our way out

The next morning we woke up to a fresh baguette and croissant outside our door! France is awesome!

So fresh and delicious

After enjoying are baked goods, we were off for another adventure in the Calanques. We decided to make our way to the Calanque d'en Vau and the Traversee Ramond route. The approach was longer but it was worth every step. The trail took us to a beautiful beach surrounded by limestone walls and clear green water. After enjoying a quick lunch on the beach, we started climbing, sort of...

The Calanque d'en Vau beach

The route began with a down climb/ rappel through a window in the rocks. It was after the rappel that things started to get interesting. Our guide book was fairly unclear about exactly where we were supposed to go from there, and eventually we made our way to a ledge that was seemingly unprotected. After a lot of debate, we decided that neither one of us felt comfortable moving forward with the gear that we had on hand (we didn't have any trad gear). An unprotected fall from the ledge would have been very dangerous and not something work risking in our minds. With that, we retreated, which included David having to lead out of the tunnel we repelled into. It was interesting, but manageable.

The window/tunnel repel

Confused route finding

After our slight set back for the day, we decided to make it better with a fancy seafood dinner in Cassis. We made the 15min walk into town and found ourselves a cute and very delicious little restaurant. 

Walking into Cassis

French dining!

The next day we were determined to climb with a little less boondoggling. We decided to shoot for spot that had multiple routes nearby that we could choose from. We headed for the Calanques Les Goudes. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name of the exact routes we did, but I will try to do an update once I figure it out. We did two different multi-pitch routes which had us topping out on the Roche Du St, Michel. We were stoked on the day and after the day before, stoked on making it to the top! 

Headed for the Roche Du St. Michel

Taking a quick photo break on a belay ledge

Repelling off the top

Sunset at Dinner on the Calanque Les Goudes

The next day we woke up to rain. Too much rain to climb. So we took the day as a rest day to get caught up on media, emails, work, ect. with the promise of one more big day of climbing ahead. We had actually planned to leave that day, but weren't ready just yet....

Rainy day dinner in the flat. Have I said that I love France?

We woke up early with a big mission for the day. We wanted to climb one of the Calanque's most famous routes, the Arete de Marseille on the Calanque de Sugiton. The approach was supposed to take an hour and a half, but David and I managed to turn it into a 5 hour mission. We walked one way, thought we were wrong, turned around and walked a different way that took us about 100ft from the first pitch. Unfortunately, between us and the climb was a deep, uncrossable gully. Soooo we turned around again, only to realize that we had been almost there the first time! Frustrated but determined, we started the climb mid-day. 

After climbing up the first pitch, we found ourselves on top of a pillar, staring across a gap in order to continue our climb upward. Stepping across this gap on the first move of the second pitch is what has made this route famous. While not overly difficult, this move definitely has a pretty strong pucker factor! 

Two climbers navigating the gap

After stepping across, we continued climbing, trading off leads up the five or so more pitches to the summit. We ended up catching up to another party right around when we were topping out which was convenient since we weren't all that sure where the repel routes were. The final pitch involved meandering across some boulders then up and over one. It was listed as fairly easy in the guide book and I wanted to get one last lead in, but I ended up backing down due to its run out nature. I handed it over to David and he led us up our final pitch in the Calanques. Getting to the top was bitter sweet. On the one hand it had been a long day and felt good to finally conquer the Arete de Marseille. On the other hand, I was sad to know that my climbing trip in the Calanques had come to an end. And then, I started thinking about Moule Frite.

Almost to the top!

Looking back at the day's project

David and I had been saving one final Coastal French dish for our last night -- Moule Frite. We had been talking about eating Moule Frite the whole week and as we began our descent from the arete, we started to fear that the restaurant would be closed by the time we made it to Cassis. Needless to say, having not eaten much all day, we picked up the pace for our walk out, dreaming of piles of mussels and french fries.

The walk out

Alas, we made it just as the restaurant was about to close and gorged ourselves on delicious crustaceans and fried potatoes!

Moule Frite!!!!

The next morning we left the Calanques and continued on our adventure to do some more kayaking in France and Italy. There is not question in my mind that I will return to the Calanques one day for more seafood and mediterranean climbing. Such a great spot!

Stay tuned for the next installment of my adventures in Europe!