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 WEEKEND IN TARGASONNE - 16th to 18th October 2009

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Targasonne is a small town on the French side of the Spanish-France border, in the Pyrinees. It offers world-class bouldering in high quality granite boulders. A good book with the topos is available in the local stores. The climbing reminds that found in the Buttermilks of Bishop, with plenty of crimps and sloppers, but with less concentration of high-balls. After Fontainebleau, it is probably the best bouldering destination in France. The boulders are located in a high alpine plateau surrounded by mountains. It may be the area of the Pyrinees with the highest number of sunny days per year. Bouldering is possible during all year, with spring and fall offering the best conditions. Winter is also excellent if snow free. The place also offers plenty of nice alternative activities: sport and trad climbing, hiking, mountaineering, skiing, hot springs, local gastronomy...

 

We left Montpellier on friday afternoon, heading to the southwest, to the French side of the Pyrinees. We drove very fast along the highway until Perpignan and then took a slower road, which brought us to the west running parallel to the mountain range. The views from the foothills of the "Canigou" (at 2785m, the small Mont Blanc of the French Catalan country) are amazing. We passed the impressive middle-age town of Vilafranca the Conflent and finally reached the high plateau of the French Cerdanya. The Griole camping was closed for vacation but we found a nice and cheap bungalow at the camping "Sol i neu" in Vilafranca de les Escaldes, where we stayed for two nights.

 

The high and thin "Love is in the air" (7a+) in the "Proue" area

 

After a cold night (slightly below zero), we had a very nice day with plenty of sun and clean air. Dry and a bit cold too, so excellent conditions to go enjoy the superb "Dieux Paiens" area. Very quickly we found a nice slab/wall boulder with good holds to warm up. After this we tried other moderate problems in the sixth grade range (V0-V5). Among these, I would recommend the high crimpy wall of "Videomaniac" (6b), an awsome line. We then had a break for lunch, back in the bungalow, and moved to the "Proue" area, next to the camping of "La Griole", for the evening session. It's time to try "Love is in the air" (7a+), a high and technical wall suggesting an exciting finish; another must-do problem.

 

Warming up in the "Dieux Paiens" area

 

After all this good bouldering and with our fingertips a bit burned out, sunday was best for some sport climbing. For this, there is the excellent "Roc d'Aude" area. As the Targasonne boulders, this wall has high quality granite rock. The crag is located along the narrow road which goes up to the "Boulloses" lake from the town of Mont-Louis (park the car on the left side of the road, on a curve, about 10Km away from the junction, and walk up to the wall using a forest path on the right side). Most routes are in the fifth-seventh grade range (5.10-5.12). High quality face, crack and dihedreal climbing is found here. So we spend the whole day climbing several routes. When the sun started setting down, we packed everything to get ready for the trip back to Montpellier. Before that, we made a short visit to the "Boulloses" lake. The lake is in a nice alpine plateau, at the base of the "Peric" and "Carlit" peaks and is worth a visit.

 

You can see the Targasonne photo gallery by clicking on the picture below:

 

 

The "Videomaniac" problem (6b) in the "Dieux Paiens" area