La Palud Sur Verdon
We encountered rain on the drive and more rain. This actually seems to be the theme so far on the trip. Cruising into the canyon we were blown away by the grandeur and beauty this rural French town possessed. Tenderly cared for fields of lavender, small gardens, neatly kept stone and stucco two-story homes with healthy free roaming animals… Brian, Whitney, Keith and I all reveled at the thought of the time we would spend in this beautiful location and the climbing that we would do.

The sheer space between the valley floor and the summit left me to believe that there wasn’t a place on earth comparable in quality and exposure as the Verdon Gorge. The experience I would have dropping in on my first climb was sought after, but much patience would be put to a test as we waited for the rain to stop. We were tormented for two full days of ominously dark skies and monsoon rains. We all were subject to the dark-side of things; however, the skies parted and on the third day the sun blessed us with an afternoon of climbing.

Keith of course was shooting photos, so Whitney, Brian and I were limited to climbing the top pitches in a party of three. It was going to test our ability to deal with the exposure straight out of the gates. We scoured the guide for a reasonable warm up and settled on a 6c (5.11b). I didn’t care about the grade so much, I just wanted to feel some French limestone and start stretching my travel-worn muscles.