​“So, what do you want for your big birthday this year? It’s just a couple months away,” I asked my wife Sylvia while we walked our dog Goose on a cold, but clear Colorado February morning.
 
Thus began the quest for something memorable, which ended up being her signing up for a week-long cooking class in Mayenne, France. And, given my maniacal obsession with climbing, began my scheming to find a way to climb in France.

​It didn’t take long - like as long as it takes to whip your climbing shoes off your aching feet at a belay - for my buddy Walt to agree to meet me in France and climb in the Verdon Gorge. With me living in Colorado and him living in New York, we had not climbed together much since the 90’s, but we have both always wanted to climb there, given the mystique of the place.
 
The Gorge has a long history of committing, runout climbing on smooth limestone high above the Verdon river. To access the Gorge, you need to rappel in from the rim and then climb out. If you can’t climb out, well...
 
Much of the development at the Gorge was done in the 80s when "running it out" was the style of the day. Sort of intimidating. But with our 70-years of combined experience, we could handle it, right?

​Walt and I met at the airport in Nice and drove a couple hours of winding, narrow roads in the dark of night to the Verdon Gorge. We checked into Hotel Panorama, shared some wine, and got caught up on each other's lives.

​In the morning we woke to the beautiful views that the hotel name promises. A typically French and tasty breakfast of bread, cheese, and croissants provided the time to plot our plans for the day.

The Hotel Panorama in Verdon, France. (Photo Credit: Don McGrath)

Don and Walt planned their climbing day over a typical French breakfast. (Photo Credit: Don McGrath)

We decided we would do Chlorochose, a seven pitch 5.8+ route that is supposed to be a good introduction to the gorge. Without much fanfare, we gathered our stuff and headed down the road a few miles to the road that travels the north rim of the Gorge, where pull-offs are used to access the climbs. We could not wait to see the gorge, but we also anticipated a lot of first-day funny business - like getting lost trying to find climbs. I’m not the only one who does this, or am I?
 
We knew we were on the right track when we came around a very tight corner to an overlook with a view of an amazing grey panel of steep limestone hundreds of feet tall. Walt quickly pulled over so we could gawk at it. Amazing and intimidating. “We got this," I nodded to myself.
 
We drove a bit further, parked the car in the Belvedere de la Carelle parking area, got our stuff together, then headed back down the road looking for the “wide track” leading to the Dalles Grises Rappel. We found it with no problem. There were a couple parties ahead of us in line to rap.

Limestone cliffs and vistas in Verdon. (Photo Cerdit: Don McGrath)

Don McGrath and Walt Heenen prepare to rappel over the edge into the Verdon Gorge. It feels quite committing. Don's Advice? Choose a route you are comfortable that you can climb without a problem. (Photo Credit: Walt Heenan)

​We didn’t mind waiting as there was plenty of spectacular scenery to keep us entertained, although care is needed to not lose your balance and pitch off the edge.
 
When it was our turn to rappel we decided to use two 70-meter ropes because the guidebook showed 4 raps, with a couple being 45 meters in length. Over the edge we went - quite exhilarating (read scary) with two thousand feet of air under our butt. But this was the allure of the place that we sought, right?
 
Three raps later we were on the ledge where Chlorochose started. There were half-a-dozen other parties with various objectives lingering on the ledge. Two parties were at the base of Chlorochose. Walt and I looked at each other and decided a Plan B was in order - Cocoluche, a six pitch 10a (6a/18) that left off the left edge of the ledge. It was open and we felt pretty confident we could send it without a problem.

We roped up and Walt led the first pitch. We swung leads up the very cool cracks and groove features. Unlike the runouts I envisioned, the route was very well bolted. I never felt the least scared of a bad fall, which was a huge and pleasant surprise. The hardest part was dealing with trailing the 2nd 70 meter rope. Ugh.
 
That was until we got to the last pitch - which was my lead.
 
The chance of rain was only 3%, but unfortunately it was 100% where we were. It began as a slight rain, but quickly changed to drops the size of nickels. We were getting drenched.
 
I managed to climb the slippery limestone by using good pockets and edges until I saw I could escape right into an easy gully. By the time we both were at the top we were drenched, cold and very psyched to not be involved in a rescue.

Some parties on Chlorochose were not as fortunate. As we were gathering our gear to head to the car, two guys came down the trail and set up a fixed line down the Chlorochose rappel and were looking down the line at the parties that got stranded. It looked like they had done this a thousand times. We didn't stick around to find out for sure, but we're pretty sure they were local climbers helping the stranded parties on Chlorochose get to the top.
 
Having dodged an epic on our first day - and getting to catch up and climb with a good friend - much food, beer, and merriment followed.

Author Don McGrath at the bottom of the wild metal peg ladder descent to the base of the amazing 9-pitch "Arete du Belvedere" (5.10/6a/18). (Photo Credit: Walt Heenan)

The next few days were incredible. We nabbed the 9-pitch Arete du Belvedere with its exposed approach down a metal peg studded gully. We did some cragging at a nearby wall named Feline. And, we ended the trip on our original objective Chlorochose, which did not disappoint. When we did Cocoluche we even discovered you can do the rappel to the base of Chlorochose with one 70-meter rope - no need to drag the second rope along.

Walt Heenan on the exposed fourth pitch of "Arete du Belvedere" (5.10/6a/18) (Photo Credit: Walt Heenan)

Did Verdon live up to its reputation? Yes and no. It did offer the exciting “must climb out” experience. However, instead of sparsely-bolted scary routes, we found the bolting generous and thoughtful.

A general piece of advice which was given to us by long-time local Matia Edlinger (wife of the late Patrick Edlinger) is that routes bolted after the year 2000 tend to be bolted to modern standards, while those before then tend to be runout and maybe even scary. So, my advice would be to select climbs bolted after 2000 at a grade you know you can climb without drama and go take advantage of this amazing place.

You can avoid the crowds by climbing during the week and avoiding the weekends too.

Walt and I had a great trip not only for the climbing, but for the time catching up over meals and the beer that followed. Probably one of the most amazing things that happened was at dinner one night, when I was sharing the few memories I have from my father who died of lung cancer when I was 7 years old. I was explaining that he was a quiet guy and probably had PTSD from his time as a POW during World War 2. I was telling Walt that the only time he spoke loudly was when he was on the phone with his boss Rocky Delorenzo, who owned the grocery store my dad managed. 

Walt stopped me mid-story and said "who was your fathers' boss?" 

"Rocky Delorenzo," I said. 

"No way," he exclaimed.
​
Turns out that Rocky is the grandfather of Walts' wife Monique! We've known each other for 30 years and never made that connection. 

The author high up on the fun Chlorochose (5.8+/5b+/16), a great intro to climbing in Verdon. (Photo Credit: Walt Heenan)

Author Don McGrath (from Colorado - front) and climbing buddy Walt Heenan (from New York) have been climbing together for over 30 years. They decided to meet up in Verdon, France for some climbing fun and discovered some new things about each other.

Later in the summer I got to meet some of Moniques' family who knew my father. This meant the world to me and has made our friendship even more meaningful. The climbing was great, but these conversations were priceless.

​Don McGrath, has been climbing for over 30 years and is an award-winning author having written Vertical Mind: Psychological Approaches for Optimal Rock Climbing. He cut his teeth learning to climb in the Gunks and the Adirondaks, and has traveled and climbed extensively over the past three decades. The only thing Don likes more than climbing is teaching people how to improve their mental game and climb stronger. He is an accomplished speaker and frequently gives talks and offers workshops on topics related to Vertical Mind. Don can be reached at [email protected].