the birm*

Gorges, eagles and limestone…

So I had the opportunity to go down and see the Verdon Gorge (which I used to want to get to for the kayaking possibilities) with Caleb and 3 of his friends. This gorge is amazing: 30 or so km of windy (as in corners, not wind!) roads 20-500m above the turquoise waters of the Verdon river.

The Verdon area is famous for kayaking, climbing and, as we admired, eagles.

We went there for a few days to sample some of the very airy climbs. The grey limestone rock is sensationally grippy and solid. As for the eagles, they were unbelievable: so big, so majestic, so powerful. Just soaring above it all, seemingly without effort…

During my time there I lead a few nice routes and climbed other harder ones, starred bug-eyed at the beauty of the country-side and wildlife and jumped into the deep, cold, turquoise water after climbing a cliff from a paddle boat.

On our return we stopped off at Ceuse, near Gap. If you’re like me, that name doesn’t mean anything to you. As I found out, it’s another world famous crag at the tope of a mountain: solid limestone with 20-80m long routes, most of which are steep and very hard. In fact, the hardest route in the world “realization” is there (for the climbers among you it was worked on for 3 years by Chris Sharma before it went at 9a+...). I only hopped on one climb there: Super Mario Bros (6b), which was a very pumpy but very enjoyable climb. Above this cliff were also a few gliders, which looked amazing and, I believe, the closest you can get to actually being an eagle. It was really cool watching them get towed up in the sky by a plane and then just glide up down and around with only a slight “whissssssh” sound.

After a few days away it was great to get back “home” to camp and have a shower, sleep in a bed (while sleeping under the stars is very scenic, the comfort comes in at a far off second…).