Lead climbing in to the Sunset

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Last night I was lead climbing in to the sunset, outdoors, for the third time this year. The experience was interesting. Although I am comfortable lead climbing up to 6a indoors I am less confident when climbing outdoors. The challenges you face outdoors are that you’re looking for bits of rock that you feel secure using rather than a specific coloured hand or foot hold like you do when climbing indoors.

Yesterday I managed to lead climb two routes and I am happy with that. I am getting to grips with placing quick draws as I climb and securing myself. I also have the opportunity to practice threading once at the top, to come back down. On the first route I threaded. On the second route I set it up for top roping.

When I got to the top of the second route the sunset was getting towards its peak but I had no camera to take a picture with. The experience was nice because you start at the foot of the cliff, hidden by trees. As you climb you go through the canopy and get above it to see the sky and undulating wooded landscape. This particular route has you scrambling over a tree to get to the top and there is a nice ledge. Threading is easy when you can stand.

The climbing site is St Loup. It is about twenty minutes from lausanne and is easy to get to in the evening after work if you live near Lausanne. The parking has enough space for about ten cars and you have to walk for about ten minutes before you arrive at the climbing walls. Some of the climbs are labelled with their name. With a guide book you can identify the routes and determine the difficulty.

I apologise for having no pictures from this day of climbing. As we were an even number of people there was no standing around and waiting.