La Belle France

I got the chance to come to Europe for a few weeks, which usually means: Wingsuit Base jumping off big cliffs, without getting getting tased by a Yosemite Ranger, sweet!! (For those who assume I’m being hyperbolic, that just happened to my friend a month ago. In the neck.)

But I also thought it would be great to spend some time with my friend Liv Sansov. I have been jumping and traveling a lot more than climbing for the last couple of months. So when Liv sent me her proposed itinerary for us, I went directly to Rifle for a week and a half of limestone cramming…..

Liv grew up in the mountains of France, chasing her grandfather’s goats, and then grew into a competitive runner, skiier, and then became the women’s world champion competition climber for many years. Like me, Liv started skydiving and base jumping a few years ago, and like me had an ACL replacement and also fractured her pelvis in a more recent accident. She also likes nutritional yeast (even more than me!) and likes pretty much everything else I like, since she seems to be my long lost French twin.

Liv picked me up at the train station on the border of France and Italy, and we started a week long quest for good weather and good limestone climbing, which took us everywhere from Ceuse to La Combe de la Nova and the Albertville climbing gym for sport routes, to two memorable multi-pitch adventures at les Vuardes (a route called Papy Fait de la Resistance) and on the Rocher du Midi (a route called Bille le Clown). We climbed lots of rock, saw lots of spectacular views, ate lots of nutritional yeast, and above all, had lots of fun!

Ceuse

La Combe de la Nova




Les Vuardes, Papy Fait de la Resistance





La Rocher du Midi, Bille le Clown












6 responses to “La Belle France”

  1. Guyom says:

    Nicely trip!!

    Do you enough jumping on the Verdon, it not try it!!! it’s an marvellous spot

    Go!, see us this incredible smile all over the world.
    You irradiate something i can’t explain, joie de vivre!!!

    (oupppps! sorry for this to bad language, promess you i’m learning English)
    Kisses

  2. fred Vionnet says:

    Woah!!!!
    That’s me climbing on the second photo of Céüse!
    So proud ….
    See you next time there.
    A plus.

  3. Dave says:

    Very sweet looking trip! Those walls look way fun and different, I’m pretty sure I haven’t heard/read about them before:)

  4. grarfloup says:

    Looks sooooooooooo cool! ( I’m talking of the rock of course! 😉 )
    You both rock.

  5. Greg says:

    Beautiful. The Europeans generally run a better place to live than the USA does….from a quality of life perspective. You should be able to work out a 6 months here, 6 months there kind of thing, I’d guess 😉

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