Ariège Pyrenees Rock Climbing Guide
Rock Climbing near Base Calames in the Ariege Pyrenees, Southern France.
The Rock Climbing in Ariege Map below shows our location in the Bédeilhac climbing area and the other major areas. All the rock climbing in our area can be accessed on foot from the house, and the major venue of Calames is less than 10 minutes walk. The other areas range from 10 minutes to an hour’s drive.
The Areas
The Crags
Bouldering
General Climbing Information
Guiding/Coaching
Whether it’s your first time on rock or you are looking for an adventure high in the mountains, local guides are available to help you on the way.
Weather
This is the South of France, not far from the Spanish border, so the weather is usually pretty good. Summer is generally hot and dry with occasional thunderstorms thrown in to keep things interesting. Many of the crags, particularly in the Bédeilhac climbing area, are south-facing and are too hot to climb during the summer days, but make superb evening destinations after a day at one of the shadier crags. The winter is mostly typified by cold, clear, crisp days (perfect for that hard project), although snow is possible anytime between November and May, and access by road to some of the crags, particularly those at higher altitude, may be limited. However, the plentiful supply of south-facing crags in the Ariège makes it an excellent winter destination, and if the sun is out, you won’t need much more than a T-shirt. Spring brings the biggest chance of rain, but sunny days are warm, and the rock dries quickly. Autumn has the most settled weather and is probably the best season for climbing, with clear blue skies and refreshing breezes. Like anywhere, particularly these days, the weather can be unpredictable and individual valleys tend to have their own weather systems. One benefit of climbing in the Ariège is the huge range of crags, and it is generally possible to find something to climb in any weather, although the overhanging routes that offer shelter from the rain may only succumb to those at the top of their game!
Busy Periods
The Ariège can be busy during the main holiday periods, particularly on the roads, but the crags are never crowded by UK standards. Our local crag, ‘Calamès’, is a popular destination due to the quality and variety of routes on offer, but even at the busiest times, there will be free sectors available for those willing to walk a bit further. Summer evenings, although a fabulous time to climb, are never busy.
Equipment
A 70-metre rope is advisable, particularly on Calames, although there are plenty of routes that can be done with less. Thirteen quickdraws are plenty for the sports routes, and if you want to check out some of the trad, a full set of cams and nuts is required. If you plan to climb any of the multi-pitch routes, it’s worth bringing some comfortable rock boots. Many of the crags are easily accessed in trainers (or even flip flops); however, there are a number of crags with quite serious walk-ins requiring sturdy approach shoes (and sturdy legs!). A number of shops sell climbing equipment, the biggest being Decathlon in Foix (around 20 minutes drive) and Intersport in Pamiers (around 30 minutes), Telemark Pyrenees in Ax les Thermes also stock a good range of outdoor equipment. Equipment can also be hired locally. We have a bouldering mat available to hire.
Topo's
The Ariege Rockfax guidebook, published in 2012, covers the vast majority of the crags in the Ariege and is well worth picking up. A new version is on the way. Rockfax also provide a digital resource.
The most up to date topo’s can be found on the Club Alpin Francais Montagnards Ariegeoise site (CAFMA), French language only: http://cafma.free.fr/.
Grades
Below is a summary of the grading systems used in France.
Sport
Sport routes use, yes, you guessed it, the French (F) sport grades that are generally used throughout the world, including the UK, so no problems there. Generally, it’s assumed that ‘easier’ routes have ‘on-sight’ grades and ‘harder’ routes have ‘redpoint’ grades, although the boundary between the two is a bit vague.
Bouldering
Generally, the Font bouldering grade and colour coding system is used. Click here for a bouldering grade summary table.
Trad
Trad routes listed as semi-equipped have bolt belays and may have additional bolts. They are graded using the ‘International French Adjectival System’ or ‘Alpine grade’, detailed below, as well as a sport grade as above.
- F (Facile)— Easy; a straightforward climb; belaying usually unnecessary; easy scrambling; little objective danger.
- PD (Peu Difficile)— Moderately difficult; a more challenging climb; some belaying and protection necessary; harder and/or more exposed scrambling; apparent objective danger.
- AD (Assez Difficile)— Fairly difficult; a moderate but not strenuous climb; belaying and protection necessary; route may be long and/or high altitude.
- D (Difficile)— Difficult; a long, serious, strenuous climb.
- TD (Tres Difficile)— Very difficult; a long, serious, strenuous climb with high objective danger in places.
- ED (Extreme Difficile)— Extremely difficult; a very serious climb with strenuous rock/ice/mixed climbing and/or exceptional objective danger; ED is often additionally sub-graded 1 through 4 (i.e. ED2).
Aid
Aid climbs are graded A0 to A5 depending on the reliability of the gear placements and the consequences of a fall.
- A0- A free climb with an occasional aid move that does not require specialised aid gear (“aiders” or “etriers”). Pulling on gear during a free ascent is often referred to as A0.
- A1- Requires specialised gear, but all placements are solid and easy.
- A2- Good placements, but sometimes tricky.
- A3- Many difficult aid moves. Some of the placements might only hold body weight, but the risk is still low.
- A4- Many body-weight placements in a row. The risk is increasing.
- A5- Enough body-weight placements in a row that a fall might result in a fall of at least 20 meters.
About the Base Calames Climbing Guide
The guide is aimed at first-time visitors to the area and gives general information on the crags covered by free downloadable topos on the CAFMA website. Areas that we have not covered include the St Girons & Plantaurel areas, both of which have some excellent climbing but are not covered by CAFMA. The guide includes some suggested climbs at a range of grades. The guide is a work in progress, and we very much welcome visitor input and recommendations.
Generally, French guides don’t award stars or ratings to climbs, so any information of this type is very useful to future visitors. A good source of information and ratings for climbing in our area is the UK climbing crag database, which is compiled and moderated by users. The UKC database is an excellent resource, and we recommend our guests get involved, add missing climbs and rate routes. (Routes are only rated by users, so a route with no stars could be a great route, but with no ratings).