It can be a tricky thing to do, to turn back from something that you’ve been planning. Especially after having got up early to get there in the cool of the morning and had a fun day planned out in your head.

But after locating our chosen route in the Gorge de la Biaysse, things didn’t quite ‘feel’ right. The climbing was well within our grade, and although some bolts were leading the way, the state of the rock on the cliff gave cause for concern. Half way up the first pitch, I paused to assess the situation. I could carry on and ‘probably’ the cliff won’t fall down, but it didn’t really seem a risk worth taking. Also, the route, on closer inspection involved climbing up through several roofs and traversed away to the right, making a retreat from higher up much more problematic as the climb was five rope lengths long.

It was a bit gutting, having made the effort to get there, but it was still the best decision to make, even if it was a tricky one. I carefully retreated back to the ground and after climbing a single pitch route as a consolation prize on the far side of the river, we put the gear back in the car and walked down to the nearby lake to cool off as it was far too hot to climb in the sun.

What started out as an adventurous day, turned into a pretty relaxing one. After lunch at the lake, we went over to Briancon to catch the last of the climbing World Cup competition semi-finals on the huge outdoor wall. It was a very chilled affair, but with a nice vibe. We sat and watched with the Japanese climbing team – I bet you don’t get to do that with most spectator sports!

After a lovely dinner on the cool of the balcony, we took a short walk as the moon came up.

Gorge de la Biaysse Climbs

• (River Droite) – Nouvelle Voie, 5b+ (backed off as looked loose and scary!)
• (River Gauche( – La Fissure, 5c* (hot!)