Another rainy Thursday....

It's surprising how quickly the time passes (even when the weather's not good enough to get out on the rock!). Since my last post, 2 weeks ago, Robin and I managed to get out only once. We had a great day at Chouchou Place last Thursday. It felt like spring had arrived as it was warm and sunny. Since then it's been raining more or less every day and there seems to be no end in sight! (Still, it's not as bad as the UK weather at the moment.)

So, the climbing walls are eating into our bank account big time. Imagine my surprise bumping into a bloke I used to teach 12 years ago at Art'bloc yesterday! Eugen wasn't really motivated in school, though he was an interesting and very respectful teenager. He's here on holiday, so I'm going to meet up with him for another session there today. So I hope to find out how he got involved in climbing. I do remember he was into martial arts and was very athletic. He blew my mind when he did a back somersault from the top of a 9m cliff into the river, during a break whilst canoeing. Boy, I was so impressed and I'm really chuffed that he's got into climbing.

I managed to find and scan some old slides of our original climbing board back in St Helens from around 1992. We added loads of holds later on and it became quite popular with  local climbers Pete Chadwick, Ewan McCallum and Steve Tonks. A regular visitor was Lancs power house John Gaskins and even Tony Mitchell put in a couple of appearances.

Oats and bouldering

I'm just letting my "Quaker Oats" settle. They make a nice start to the day with honey and ground cinnamon, when I'm not working. So, I've booted up my laptop and found an email from Atout Roc (the local climbing club that I donated my earnings from Rockfax a couple of years ago) with an up to date topo of Chouchou Place (the current spot a la mode). Great; it looks like there's still more to go back for, if and when the weather improves long enough.

At the moment the sun is out, but I've checked the forecast again and they're still saying rain later on. So, Robin and I have a rdv for Art'bloc this afternoon. Should be a tough session, as my body aches from yesterday's session at Val de grimpe! Plus, my ribs/intercostal muscles are still really sore from my ski accident 3 weeks ago! It's important to get the excuses out ready...

Talking about indoor bouldering, I think I've got some old photos of our board in St Helens. I'll trawl the collection and see what I can post.

I could only find some outdoor bouldering shots from the 90's. See if you can identify any. Meanwhile, I'll be thinking of you all again working away today. Allez, ciao!

January and February 2013

The fingery lower section of Chouchou Place, 7c. Photo by Julien/Voyages a la verticale.

It's Thursday again (the only day I get to lie in whilst Elaine takes Scamp for a walk). It's also the day that Not-so-fatman and Robin get together and have the difficult task of going out climbing on the fabulous Cote d'Azur crags. I know, it's a tough life! However, unfortunately it's been raining for a couple of days now and today is shaping up the same way. Time for me to catch up, as it's been a while since my last blog.

Mike, Elaine, Scamp, Marie-Jo, Gerard and Marc at Chouchou Place (photo by Julien/Voyages a la verticale)

Elaine and Scamp at Greolieres in January

Chouchou Place, 7c (photo by Julien/Voyages a la verticale)

Since the new year, the weather has been very unsettled. Typically the pattern has been for an unsettled week with periods of heavy rain followed by a week or two of good weather, during which it has been possible to climb on the dry crags (ie. mostly those without tufas). Then the rain has returned again. It's been pretty frustrating for all the keen climbers down here. Most of us have been ticking over, occasionally snatching some good routes and keeping fit at Art'Bloc and Val de Grimpe.

Elaine and Scamp on the way to Chouchou Place in February

Robin warming up on a 6c at Chouchou Place in the February sun

The whole place to ourselves. How cool is that?

Elaine still looking good in SOS pants at Isola

Elaine and I have even been skiing and making the most of the brilliant conditions. We've had a couple of great days at Isola 2000 (where there was almost 3m of snow) and a couple of superb days at Valberg last weekend. Yours truly had a nasty wipe out at Isola, cutting my head (5 stitches needed) and covering the piste with lots of the red stuff. The irony was that the day before I had a helmet in my hand at Decathlon but decided not to buy it. Guess what was the next thing we bought?

I'm made up that I've remembered how to upload photos! And I'm psyched for some bouldering this afternoon with Marie-Jo, Julien and Robin whilst the rest of you folks are keeping the world turning! See ya!