Published December 4, 2003 08:28AM
An ice climbing competition in balmy southern France? Well, not exactly. Last weekend, the world’s first dry-toooling competition on natural rock was held at the Gorges des Gâts, about an hour south of Grenoble. Forty-seven men and women entered the Festi-Dry competition, dry-tooling up limestone routes up to 35 meters long. No ice was in sight at this “total-dry” competition—the climbers competed under brilliant sunshine on Saturday. Rain fell for Sunday’s master’s competition, but the climbers and a couple of hundred spectators stayed dry under the enormous overhang scaled by the final routes. Simon Anthamatten won the men’s competition, and Anna Toretta took the women’s prize. More info and a photo at www.kairn.com (in French).