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rock
climbing - a tour of the crags of the ariège |
Areas |
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Although not well known as a climbing destination in the UK, the Ariège offers over 2000 routes within an hour of the departmental capital Foix covering a huge variety of styles. Single-pitch sport climbing on immaculate limestone in guaranteed sun is how we all imagine a climbing trip to France, and there's certainly no shortage of that here. The Ariège also boasts excellent climbing on granite with roadside cragging and mountain routes, multi-pitch routes up to 900m long, some excellent bouldering spots, beginner's spots and crags stuffed with 8a's. Let's take the tour: Starting furthest north, the limestone ridge system of the Plantaurel runs roughly west to east through Foix. This outcrops in numerous places to give a series of crags between here and Lavelanet to the east, covered in the Plantaurel guidebook. Sites include Arabaux (short routes and bouldering in a very sunny setting), Le Carol (3 minute walk-in and good technical single-pitch routes in partial shade), Roquefixade (routes with a 'traditional' feel on one of the oldest climbed crags hereabouts), La Fajane (billed as the only true North facing shady spot in the Ariège, mostly harder grades) and Dreuilhe (not the prettiest but ideal for teaching beginners). Travelling
south from Foix, the main road (the N20) follows the path of the Ariège
river towards the mountains and towards some major climbing sites. Pride of place goes to the major crag of Calamès. This boasts around 200 routes, gets all the sun going, has sectors at all sorts of grades and superb views. Ideal in winter, this might be just too hot in full summer. The multi-pitch routes on the Pilier des Cathares are popular, giving long outings at very reasonable grades. Moving further south, the Vicdessos valley has a host of different climbing possibilities. Firstly, centred around Niaux (famous for the prehistoric cave paintings in the Grottes de Niaux) are several limestone crags giving mainly hard climbing. Almost as soon as you turn down the valley is the Grottes de Sabart, an impressive cave with some very upside down climbing. Genat has some impressively overhanging terrain with easier routes on the wings, the setting is beautiful and the crag is sunny in winter and sheltered from the rain. Nearby Alliat is another mainly hard crag with around 100 routes. On the Niaux side of the valley are Le Saut de L'Ours, Le Refuge, L'Arche and La Colonne Unique, four hard crags (7a and up) with about 25 routes each. More forgiving are Sibada and Baychon. Sibada gets the evening sun and is popular with locals with its easy access single pitches. Baychon has more routes (about 100) and more variety, in the shade in the evening and another superb setting. Moving further up the valley takes you to Laramade, shady granite bouldering and scene for the 2005 and 2006 Ariège bouldering meet. Faces north so cold and damp in the winter. Further along past Vicdessos we reach Auzat and something a little different. This granite crag has proved very popular with guests, with easy access, gritstone-like qualities and plenty of climbs in the 6's. A mixture of single and multi-pitch with emphasis on your footwork. From Auzat the high mountains are obvious, the massifs of Bassies and Montcalm give several proper mountain routes on excellent granite. Back to the main Ariège valley now and as you head down past Tarascon there is an amazing amount of rock - try not to crash the car looking at it all! The climbing centres around the Quié de Sinsat - this area is divided into three main sections and a number of less significant crags. Sinsat is the lower series of crags, giving 130 routes at all grades except the very hardest. About halfway up the hillside is the superb Pubis section, a mixture of single and multi-pitch. The extensive 'High Walls of Sinsat' are what make this one of the most impressive sweeps of cliff anywhere. Here a handful of routes make their way up 250m of terrain that is often hard, often with artificial pitches - no place for the faint-hearted, but soaring with the vultures will be the reward of those good enough to climb here. Smaller sites here include Ornolac, Falaises du Soulombrie and Verdun. The N20 now continues along the Ariège valley to Ax-les-Thermes, a thermal spa and ski resort. On the way are a number of cliffs. These include Aston, a pleasant shady summer venue, unusually the rock is gneiss. The limestone venues of Appy and Urs are here too. A number of crags and climbing styles can be found around Ax-les-Thermes. Close to town Rocher de la Piscine and Bonascre are popular cragging venues. However, the main attraction is the Orlu valley. On the small end, there is great bouldering at Orlu and Bisp. At the other extreme, the Dent d'Orlu screams out to be climbed, the guidebook lists 52 routes up this granite peak, 32 pitches and 900m of climbing is guaranteed to give you a memorable day out. So far
we've covered the main arterial routes through the Ariège. There
is more climbing in the region, in the Haut
Couserans and St. Giron areas for
example. There are plenty of mountain routes to be found in the high
peaks, and the St. Giron area also has a variety of lower level cragging
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Ariège Valley Crags
Alliat |
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