Ma grande soif de grimpe!

Since the last Petzl Roc Trip in october in China, I didn’t touche a lot of climbing holds. During the winter, I love skiing and training indoors and I like the sensation when the world around me is waering a white snow mantle.

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In the beginning of february, my desire for a pure rock trip was bigger then ever. Spontaneously, me and Cédric, we were packing our home made camping car and we were driving direction south and sun!

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Our first stop was in Margalef, but it was still to cold there and so we were driving to Oliana for a couple of days. I love the climbing there and it was so nice to feel the sun on my skin while I was climbing hard. Perfect conditions! Cédric was trying hard ‘Chaxi’ and me I was alternating between ‘Papy Mullat’ and ‘Mind Control’.

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I was falling of a couple of times on a big move in Papy Mullat and I so I gave up this project for a while and I was working only on Mind Control. After only 4 trys I was able to clip the chain and it was an incredible feeling!

For Cédric, he also had to keep away his project for a while because he had serious skin problems…( At the moment right now, he’s driving back to Oliana for this route…venga!)

After a super diner with a good bottle of Rioja, we joined our friends from Grenoble and Fontainbleau in Margalef. The atmosphere was incredible and we’ve had so much fun together. Everyone found his project in his level max and it was so cool to beeing surrounded by the cheers of ‘ALLEZ, ALLEZ  and to feel how hard everyone was trying to redpoint theyr routes. Like I told you before, I’ve had like a big manquo of rock climbing. I think that I was like a crazy little girl, climbing the most possible from early in the morning till soon into the night…It was such a big satisfaction for me to feel again the power of rock and nature…

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Unfortunaly, my high motivation was making me a little bit fable I guess. After ten days ‘a muerte’ I felt sick for five days. But anyways, I was surrounded by our music box Quintin and by my personal top-chief cooker Cédric and so this lazy time passed really quickly.

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Margalef has never been one of my favourite climbing palce because the style is really physical and also kind of painful with all these pockets. But in the end, Margalef is not only ‘Laboratory’, Margalef has huge 40 meter walls, colonettes, crimps….it’s one of these crazy canyon system and every wall is unique and I think that I felt in love with the charm of the village and the facility of live there.

After two weeks, Cédric had to drive home with the Grenoble group Rackam and Quintin and I picked up my good friend Babsi in Barcelona.

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We both found really cool projects in the sector ‘Finestra’ and it was so nice to be with her for once more. She’s always super psyched and she never gives up! Babsi climbed a cool 8b and I did ‘Aiztol’ a really physical 8b+/8c.

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One of my favourite sector was ‘la cathedrale’ and ‘Erabella’ and the huge flat colonettes on the left of Erabella. Fantastic walls, un-typical climb and perfect conditions in the shadow. I flashed one 8a+ route on this flat colonettes and I did the biggest full-body fight since a long time. I also on-sightet an 8a+ on ‘la Cathedrale’ and I was also soooo close to onsight my first 8b, also on this wall.

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In the really end we were moving to Siurana for two days but the weather was just to cold and it wasn’t so much fun. Well, I think that I was also really exhausted. I was trying hard the route ‘Patinoso’, an 8c+ in Siurana that fits me really well. But I was to lazy to try it seriously and so we were ending up on the beach with big cocktails, a tons of icecreams and shopping in Barcelona!;-)

Now it’s time so start a new adventure. Tomorrow I will leave to Argentinia with the Petzl Crew. We will bolting routes for the next Roc Trip, I’m super super psyched!!!!!!

Thank’s a lot to Nicolas Renard, alias ‘grand chef’, Vojtech Vrzba and Jarno Zwiebel for the nice photos and for shure Pierre Délas, So Toutepetite, Babsi Zangerl, Coquillette, Rackam and Quintin, Enzo Oddo and my lovely boyfriend Cédric for this wonderful time we spent together in Spain.

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Sadness and happyness

One week ago, I recieved a call from my mom while I  was on the way down to Spain. I had to learn with sadness that a good climber friend of mine, Günther Habersatter, has found his death in a avalanche. I’m really sorry for his wife and his three children; Günthi was my rope partner when I was redpointing ‘Silbergeier’.

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Climbing with a big sadness is hard, but in another way, climbing makes us really happy and I realized once more, how much we have to appreciate every single day.

I was beginning my trip together with Cédric and our lovely home-made camping car. After two days of climbing in the freezy Margalef, we moved to Oliana, our favourite crag of Catalunya.

Cédric choosed a new 9a+, Chaxi, and I starded two new projects: Pappy Mullat and Mind Control. I put a lot of energy in Pappy Mullat, a route with one big move and after 10 trys, I was still not able to redpoint this one. No sent, but a good endurance training for Mind Control.

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For me, Mind Control is a perfect line. The climb is like a voyage and the key to successe is to stay calm and to feel comfortable with all this air unter your ass.

Some days ago, Daila Ojenda sent the route in a perfect style and just after her, Joe Kinder did it in the same way. It was so cool to watch them climbing and I wanted to do the same. The last year I did one work out of Mind Contol, this time I needed 4 more and on my first serious try, I clipped the chain 45 meters high up from the ground. Soooooo nice!;-)

The grade of Mind Control is really not extreme. If somebody will downgread, why not. But honestly, grades are so unimportant. I’ve had the chance to climb such a fantastic line and I feel so alive and my body is full of energy and power. I can realize my dreams, what else counts in live?

The little clip from the ascent will following soon, stay tuned! (We don’t have the best connection)

Trophée Mer Montagne

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La Trophée Mer Montagne est une course d’amitiée qui a eu lieu à St. Gervais, Mont Blanc, organisée par le marain/montagnard Eric Loiseau. L’idée de la Trophée c’est de réunir les gens de la mer avec les gens de la montagne. 16 équipes, formés par un marin, un montagnard et un enfant de la station, se sont battus pendant 4 jours dans des disciplines differents comme de la ski de rando, slalom,  derby,  bi-athlon et course d’orientation.

Les montagnards/grimpeurs, représenté par Daniel Dulac, Aymrique Cloué, Erwan LeLann et moi, ont eu un peu du mal à suivre Luc Alphan, Aurélien Ducroz et Julie Duvillard en Slalom. Par contre on a bien gasé sur les ski de rando et le marins nous ont bien montré comment il fallait lire une carte à la course d’orientation.

4 jours de ski, bonne nourriture, bonne rigolade et bonnes fêtes. Un ‘must’ pour une petite grimpeuse comme moi qui adore la neige!

Et la grimpe? Les deux derniers mois j’étais en mode entrainement et ski. Une bonne préparation physique pour une longue saison de caillou que commencera dans une semaine en espagne, venga!!!!

Voici-donc quelques magnifique photos de Gilles Morelle.

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Trophee Mer Montagne 2012 - Biathlon

Trophee Mer Montagne 2012 - Biathlon

Trophee Mer Montagne 2012 - Biathlon

Trophee Mer Montagne 2012 - Biathlon

Trophee Mer Montagne 2012 - Biathlon

Trophee Mer Montagne 2012 - Slalom

Trophee Mer Montagne 2012 - Slalom

Trophée Mer & Montagne 2012 - SkyRace

My adventures in Vietnam

Once a year, I like to go on a journey without my climbing shoes, to see the planet without all his crimps and flat holds…;-)
At the end of November, I jumped on a plane from Paris to Vietnam, together with Cédric and three cave-friends, Manu, Clémentine and Bernard.
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Our goal was to find new caves in a vierge zone in the north of Vietnam. From the capital Hanoi, it took us one week to getting all the permissions to travel to the north and to stay in the homes of the local’s. One week in Hanoi and Bay of Along was enough time to be real tourists!

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After two days on a pirate boat in the Bay of Along, we finally found our Vietnamese geologist in Hanoi.  Every paper was signed and we were ready to move into the wild jungle.

The countryside in this region was really impressive and completely untouched from the tourism.

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For about four hours we drove the 200km north by car, but at one point there was no more street and we had to walk the last 15km to our small village.

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The people who live up there, the Ethnies, really live like in the middle age. All of them are self-supported, they eat rice and vegetables and sometimes they butcher a chicken.

During our explorations, we’ve had the chance to sleep in the house of the chief of the village. It was a big privilege to see how they manage their life, impressive…

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Every day, we were looking for new caves and with the help of the locals, we found a lot of little caves from 200 to 500 meters long. But the potential wasn’t really big or impressive. The research in the middle of the jungle was a scary thing. Sometimes we found snakes near the entrances! 😉

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The caving was really unique. Nothing extreme, but when you do an expedition in a new zone, it’s like playing Lotto. You can find a 10km cave, or you can find nothing. All in all, we’ve had a lot of fun and life with the Ethnies in their village was adventure enough!

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Concerning the food, it was a little adventure as well. Beside the pure rice, we never had an idea what was in our plates. And fortunately we took some good Uncle Ben’s and some snickers with us to change the tastes a little bit.

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Holidays have to be holidays, and so we moved with Cédric to the Island Phu Quoc, in the very south of Vietnam. Diving, exotic fruit, seafood, cocktails at the beach… the real recovery! 😉

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I would say ‘vive’ the holidays to bring good forces and energy for a new season, with a lot of ascents! 😉

Thank’s to Beal and Uncle Ben’s for the great support!

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Mountain film festival in Grenoble


Teaser des 13èmes Rencontres du cinéma de… par maisondelamontagne

This year, I’ve had the pleasure to present two films on the mountain film festival in Grenoble. The first was Rock’n Cuba from Vladimir Cellier and Julien Nadiras. It was not only a pure climbing film, it was more a mix between music, culture, livestyle and for shure the climbing in Cuba. A peace of art…thank’s once more to Vlad and Julien for their unique work.

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Beside climbing and mountain movies, we’ve had the pleasure to see for the first time on this festival a film about caving. The descent from the Petzl Team to the Berger, -1’000m this summer.

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I’ve had a lot of fun and it was really cool to see all these films on a big screen.


Soirée du mardi 15 novembre 2011 – Rencontres du… par maisondelamontagne

Caving….it’s time to do more! In one week I will go with Cédric and three friends from Grenoble to Vietnam for exploring and discovering. I’m really psyched because I’m shure that it will be, once more, one of these incredible adventures…;-)

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Petzl Roc Trip in China

Well well, it’s high time to write about one of the best trip I’ve ever done in my live, the Petzl Roc Trip in Getu Valley.

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In my eyes, it was a journey in an inconnu world. A world with another rhythm of live, time and people. Erwann Lelann transformed this lost place in China in a kind of a climbing paradise with a minimum of structure. Structure in China will never be the same as in Europe or America and for us foreigners, everything was just crazy and incredible.

The climbing live there was really easy and uncomplicaded. Rice, cliffs all around in the whole valley and accessible by foot, rice, all different kind of rock and routes, rice, a lot of motivaded climbers, rice, good partys and…rice?

The only thing I was missing was the blue sky and a glass of good redwine. But also without these two important factors, I was always super psyched and the climbing was like a game for me. I just wanted to climb as much as possible. First of all all the multipitch routes in the big arch, then the short and physical sportclimbing routes also in the arch, the crimper lines in Banyana’s cave and the boulderstyle routes in Buddha’s cave.

10 day’s in Getu, a lot of climbing, performances and allez-allez, but also a meeting during day and night with my friends from all around the world. Sharing with them all these crazy situations, crazy ambiances and crazy…..ah, everything was so simple.

More photos are coming soon from Sam Bié and Beau Kahler…

A special thank’s once more to all the Petzl Crew. The creation of an event like this is just incredible…