Mike Owen's blog: Malaxe

St Léger is definitely one of the best places to climb in the south of France and it's just over a three hour drive away for us. We have been climbing there, off and on, for over 20 years. It's located in a beautiful part of Provence, just to the north of the imposing Mont Ventoux, and is surrounded by rustic villages, vineyards and lavender fields.

La Baleine is the stand out sector for me. It has climbing from 6a to 8c, from vertical to crazily steep and has plenty of shade. Grades are generally stiff and you have to pull hard; there are lots of tufas and therefore lots of knee bars, but there are also lots of slopers too, so the climbing is always very pumpy. I've been captivated by the place since the early days of equipping back in 2009, despite my ego getting a severe kicking on more than one occasion, I have more unfinished projects there than anywhere else! Occasionally I do manage to complete something though.

Early in September 2021, I was inspired to try a very steep 8a/+ called Malaxe, after watching a German climber, called Maria, who looked very strong and solid on the moves. I went up twice that day, but didn't really find the methods for the hardest sections. It rained heavily overnight, the route got wet and it was easy to use that as an excuse to walk away and forget about it.

Climbing is sometimes like that, you have to be really motivated to put in a lot of effort when you're trying something close to your limit. There are days when things seem too much like hard work, but there are also those magical days when the planets align, gravity is low, and everything seems effortless.

Fast forward 18 months and we were back at St Léger. After the dry, mild winter Malaxe was totally dry, which is very rare for that time of year. Time to man up and get stuck in properly. As it turned out, there were 2 other climbers trying the route around the same time. Sharing beta with Mick and Alma was great fun and inevitably saved time, there was a really relaxed vibe at the crag as each of us got steadily closer and closer to sending. In the end I found Mick's beta most useful: a cunning left heel/toe and right hand sloper, on the first crux, and a left middle finger mono undercut (easier to take with fat fingers than the normal undercut) at the start of the second crux near the top. It took me a long time to get the first crux dialled but, fortunately, the first time I got through it I managed to link all the way to the top.

Succeeding on Malaxe felt like a high point and brought me intense feelings of joy and pleasure that lasted several days. However, it wouldn't have been possible without the encouragement of Elaine, patiently holding the other end of the rope. So a massive "thank you" to her. Thanks also to Blaise for his vision and equipping the route.

After Malaxe, we spent a lot more time at La Baleine. There were some more successes and, of course, some frustrating failures. That's climbing: there are good days and bad days, there are ups and downs; a bit like life in general.

Wonderful to spend time at the crag with Michaela and Roman (Czech/Bonnieux), Cathy and Seb (every crag in France, Spain, Italy....!), Mick (France), Alma (Mexico), Filipe (Portugal), Vilja (Finland), Gaetan (Bretagne) and Aurel and Malin (France/Germany/Australia). Good to see Tansy and Keefe and Kev and Becca too.

All uncredited photos by Elaine.