Archiv für den Monat September 2014

The rainy summer of Europe had followed us to Bulgaria.  During our four-day stop, the weather took over and heavy rains filled and almost overflowed the rivers of Vratsa.  The flooding made travel very difficult especially for our Petzl caravan of buses full of people and gear.

But, our little French team had high spirits and when we arrived in Vratsa, Gérome Pouvreau made us his famous ‘Tartiflette’ with all the good cheese he brought with him from France!

Climbing in Vrasta seemed to be impossible for the next few days as the limestone walls had turned into waterfalls. We took this as an opportunity to explore and over the next two days we ended up climbing in a huge cave in Karlukovo, which was an amazing experience. It was still raining and the conditions were quiet wet, but with our group’s motivation we climbed some amazing routes.

The four days of rain slowly started to get to us, but then, thankfully, the sun came out and we finally got the chance to see the beautiful landscape of Vratsa.

The next three days we climbed in the sun on perfect limestone and our hearts were feeling the joy of climbing.

I loved this place so much. The mixture between sport climbing in these awesome Bulgarian mountains made me really excited.

I slowly felt comfortable with my climbing again and got back to a good level of ability. I did several routes around eight degrees of difficulty and it felt wonderful.  I enjoyed every single move and really loved the feeling of the power coming back to my body.

The Bulgarian people were amazing!

And once again, we were back in the bus and on the road dodging potholes, but this seems to be really common in the eastern countries…;-)

I left my apartment in Grenoble, France for about two months and I had no idea what to expect. I traveled east to join the Petzl Roc Trip caravan headed to Romania. I don’t usually travel east to climb, but I loved the idea of discovering new countries, cultures and new climbing areas.

Together with our French friends and team members, we finally arrived in Romania and the village of Baile Herculane. One of the first things we noticed was the difference between gypsies and Romanians. We had always had this idea that all people from Romania are on the road, which is not true. But, it was so fun to see how the real Romanian-gypsies live their life by the road.

The valley of the Baile Herculane is an amazing place and a great climbing area. To start off our trip, we hiked about an hour to reach a huge cliff along side a beautiful waterfall.

I had almost forgotten about the Roc Trip vibe, because the last one I went on was about three years ago in China. There are so many climbers and everyone just wants to get out and climb. It took a bit to get used to all the people in the beginning of the trip because I had spent my whole summer almost alone in the mountains of Picos de Europa. Now, I was climbing on a cliff along with 200 others!

During the first three days of climbing I felt really weak and was struggling to get back in form. I was still feeling the effects of traveling in my legs. After such a long break from rock climbing, I was little uncomfortable. But, Roc Trip means climbing! Who cares what level you are at, it’s all about enjoying new routes with the people around you and the opportunity to travel while doing what you love.

Baile Herculane is also famous for his hot springs and since we were here, we couldn’t miss a chance to experience them. We had the chance to meet one gypsy who lives in one of the tunnels where the 50 degree hot water comes out…ha! This was not easy to watch, but at least he won’t freeze during the winter! 😉

The roads in Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria are well known for being harsh on vehicles. As well as being a top climber, it’s just as important to be a world-class pilot: there are so many huge holes in the roads that you feel like you are in a video game.

Unfortunately, Gérome Pouvreau found one of the holes in the road.  Lucky he had only dented a rim and somehow with some heavy hammering the rim was repaired and we were on our way…

Romanian’s like to have a good time after climbing. The base camp was full of food, beer and souvenir stands – a whole party area. We had the chance to try all the delicious food and were impressed with the local games and concerts.

We have now crossed the border and I’m ready to discover Bulagria during the next ten days….

Ce dernier mois a été un peu particulier pour moi. J’avoue que notre belle aventure dans “Orbayu” m’a couté énormément d’énergie et à notre retour je suis tombé dans un grand creux. Ce creux particulièrement profond m’a montré que j’avais donnée trop de ma personne, mais aussi que j’avais réussi à me dépasser. Ce creux m’a fait bizarre il m’a complétement déboussolé. Normalement j’arrive à diriger mon journalier avec ma tête, mes envies et mes ressentis, tous ce que je fais normalement à du sens et j’ai l’impression d’avancer dans ma vie.

Photo: Sam Bié

Là c’était le pur contraire: Je ne servais à rien, mais à rien du tout! Je me sentais comme un gros sac, incapable de bouger, incapable de faire le moindre d’effort. Le mieux à faire c’était donc des vrais vacances; des vacances dans la vallée du Prättigau ou je suis née et de me faire chouchouter par ma petite maman et famille.

La reprise plus tard, mon dieu, c’était dur….Je me sentais comme quelqu’un qui n’a jamais fait de sport dans sa vie et qui essaie de s’y mettre. Quand on est sportive de haute niveau c’est tellement normale de bouger et de faire des efforts. Parfois ça devient presque comme une drogue. J’adore sentir mon corps, voir réagir mes muscles après des entrainements et aussi sentir que mon corps a besoin de manger et de boire.

Le fait de pas bouger et de manger n’importez quoi a gentiment commencé à me prendre la tête. Heureusement, au bout de trois semaines, on a pu récupérer notre camion réparé par notre dieu monsieur Patrick Fuselier. Enfin, on a eu la certitude de partir avec le camion sur le Petzl Roc Trip et ça m’a donné une immense motivation de se remettre en forme pour ça. Comme quoi il faut toujours avoir des buts dans la vie…

Depuis, on a bricolé beaucoup dans le camion pour l’adapter à nos besoin pour être confortable pendant ces deux mois de trip.

Ca y est, on a quitté Grenoble avec un camion qui brille comme neuf. Ce qui est bon, je ne sais pas du tout à quoi m’attendre. Inchalla….

Je publierai un billet sur la page  Facebook d’Arcteryx  après chaque étape. Je pense qu’il y aura des choses à vous raconter….;-)

Pour info, voici encore un petit reportage qu’on a réalisé ce printemps avec la RTS à Saint Léger. Malheureusement, on ne peut que le visualiser en Suisse…Peut-être qu’un jour la télé me donnera le droit de le mettre sur youtube.