Since teenage years I’ve always wanted to try rock climbing and now in my (pssst!) advanced age, finally got to do that with CAS La Dole.
Christophe, Anne and myself met at Vich on a hot but beautiful Saturday morning and drove to Martigny where we met with the rest of our grand expedition - Christian and Philippe. We drove to La Fore near Sembrancher and walked uphill for another 20 minutes or so to reach the starting point of Les Singes route, 250 meters of rock split into 9 sections.
Anne and Christophe went first, I stayed with Philippe leading the way and Christian looking after me during the first ascent on a multi-pitch route. It was hot but windy with perfect views down the valley and all went really great. Ok, there was a little crisis on the 5b sector at the beginning but that's all art of the learning.
And, last but not least, let me note that climbing is great fun and a good challenge but by far the most confusing part is having to remember the names of all the knots. As a child, I learnt to tie them all (lodni smycka, draci smycka, osmicka, you name it) but growing up in then Czechoslovakia of course meant that all names were in Czech. To avoid total embarrassment on a first real climbing trip I bought (and even read) a really good book about rock climbing. No surprise here, all the knots in the book had their English names. Finally, trying it out with great help from friends at CAS La Dole, all the knots have yet different, French names. So, if anyone was as confused as I was, here is a small translation tool to help you out :)
Česky-English-Français
Lodní smyčka-Clove hitch-Noeud de cabestan
Poloviční lodní smyčka-Italian hitch-Noeud de demi-cabestan
Dračí smyčka-Bowline-Le noeud de chaise
Osmičkové poutko (Osmička)-Figure Eight-Noeud de huit
Thanks Christophe for driving all the way from Mauvoisine back to Vich, thanks Christian for organising the trip and thanks everyone for a great day, I can’t wait for the next one!
Marie
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