Images courtesy of http://abloc.org/

Area & Style of Climbing
Close to the small town of Annot in southeast France are a number of poorly drilled sport climbing cliffs. Why bother coming here? Well a five minute drive up the valley is the Argenton mountainside, littered with an abundance of sandstone boulders, it contains high quality climbing in a beautiful forested setting.

Image Right: Triple X (B12)

Location
France, Alpes de Haute Provence

Overview
The bouldering at Annot is situated just over a mile up the valley from the town, on a forested west facing hillside. A steep hair-pinned dirt track winds up the hillside from the main road, and it’s from this that the boulders are accessed. The boulders range in elevation from around 700-1500m.

Although the sandstone boulders here are often compared to the famous bouldering in the Fontainebleau, the rock at Annot is in fact coarser grained- so can be rough on the skin! The quality of the rock varies, but is generally superb; increasing in quality with elevation. Contrary, to Font, the area offers a greater abundance of pockets, but still maintains plenty of rounded holdless mantels. The area has less slabs and is more orientated towards powerful, athletic climbing.

The landings are generally good, although the hilly terrain can make for uneven ground. There are also a large amount of higher lines, which will obviously require more pads.

Best Time to Go & Conditions
Due to the range in elevation a decent climbing session can be had even in the middle of the summer, although it might be best to stick to the pocketed problems as the more slopey lines are horrendous in hot weather. Spring and autumn seem a popular time to go. In winter it can be a little too snowy.

Getting There
For shorter trips it is probably best to fly to Nice, hire a car and drive (~hour and a half). Several budget airlines fly to Nice.

It is possible to get to Annot by train; however it’s about an hour and a half on foot from the station to the La Rouie (the main climbers campsite- see below) and a bit further to the farthest boulders. The distance from the town is worth remembering as if you don’t have a car you’ll have to hike up and down the track to town for supplies! The closest boulders at the bottom of the track are a more reasonable distance.

If you’re traveling around Europe and have a car, Annot is around an hour from the Verdon and about two from Ceuse, making it well worth combining with a trip to either of these venues.

Rainfall
Being on the edge of the Alps, rainfall is unpredictable and can occur at any time of year. Nearby, coastal Nice has an annual rainfall of around 800mm, inland and at altitude it is likely to be more.

Image Below: Toit du Col du Loup SDS (B8)

Accessibility
Hiring a car is time efficient, will give you more options in the event of bad weather and makes shopping and rest day activities easier. If you have time on your hands then the train connection (which is part of the scenic route between Nice and Digne-les-Bains) is a possibility.

Accommodation & Provisions
Camping isn’t allowed in the forest. There are two main campsites: one on the edge of town and another (La Rouie), which is more popular with climbers, situated on a farm 3 and a half miles up the dirt track, amongst the bouldering. There are also a number of cheap hotels in Annot.

Guide Book/s
There is a section on Annot in the selected guidebook Mistral 2. This is ideal if visiting the area for a short amount of time as it also includes other more well known sport climbing areas in the region. However, if you want something more in depth then there is an excellent, free online guide- http://abloc.org (in French).

Grade Spread and Recommended Routes
Annot uses its own grading system, the B grades (for Bloc), and these currently range from B1-B16 (up to around Font 8b). There are currently nearly 1500 recorded problems. As around two thirds of the problems are B3-B8, you’ll get the most out of the area if you’re climbing in this range. Above this there are still plenty of harder problems to go at.

Image Below: Madness (B6)

The bouldering is divided up into 35 different sectors, each has many quality problems. I only had time to climb in a few of the areas, from these the following problems can be recommended:

Sector Madness: Redoublage (B5), Bacalauréat (B6), Bachotage (B6), Madness (B6) and One Step (B9).
Sector Scary Movie: Conatif (B4), Sympa Tique (B6), Hiroshima (B6), Scary Movie (B8), Los Alamos (B8), Bernadette Subaru (B10) or Le 6 (B12).
Place des Cardeurs: Citizen (B5), le N° 405 (B6), President Evil (B8), Si Tu Dérapes (B10) and Place des Cardeurs (B14).
Place Vendome: N° 1049 (B5), 1048 (B6), Tendu Comme un String (B11) and Triple X (both B12).
Paf le Chien: Problem N° 742 (B6), Cartondulé (B8) and Paf le Chien (B11).
La Crête: Panoramix (B8) and Le Toit du Cul du Loup sit start (B8).

The lower sectors between the 4th and 7th bend of the track (Sectors Dragonball, Menhir, Seb Karma and 5eme Epingle) were good for easy circuits, which we made our way around on our way back and to and from town.

Grade conversion charts of the B grades seems to vary, here’s one basic comparison table I found: B6/fb6b, B8/fb7a, B10/fb7b, B12/fb7c, B14/fb8a.

General Tip/s
It’s worth bearing in mind that every autumn (from the 10th September to the 10th January) some of the farthest areas are closed for wild boar hunting. This closure equates to about 15 percent of the established climbing areas.

-The sandstone can be very fragile and it becomes even more brittle if it is scraped : do not use a wire brush on established boulder problems!
-Considering the potential of boulders to be developed, let the "inconceivable" problems remain inconceivable : do not chip holds!
-Only park on the turns, as trucks use the track regularly.
-Wild camping is prohibited and do not make any fires!
-Do not cut trees.
-Do not demolish the stone walls under the boulders.
-The boulders are located on private property : thank you for remaining discrete.
-Especially do not collect mushrooms!!!
-Don't leave any waste (as always).
-Locate the descent route off the boulders before climbing...
-Avoid climbing after the rain: the water makes the rock very easily damaged.

Location Map




Les Grès d'Annot, the sport climbing cliffs just above town, contain 130-odd routes up to f9a. The vast majority of these climbs were created on a large scale (at the cost of 100,000 Francs) in the late 1980s by the town to attract climbers. Go check it out if drilled pockets on blank walls are your thing.

If the weather craps out on you it’s only a short drive to a number of other quality French climbing venues (mentioned above).

Purchase the Mistral 2 selected guide book here (in which Annot is featured).

Useful Links
Flights: www.ryanair.com
Car Hire: www.carrentals.co.uk
Annot online topo site (in French): http://abloc.org

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