Spectators at Scalatabel 2007 © CJS

 This weekend, the 16-17th of June, the Scalatabel event took place at Grotte Demoiselle, Thaurac, France and 8a.nu was there to check it out. The event included competitions for all ages and levels, and several hundred climbers participated in the different groups. Routes from 3+ to 8c could be found and spectators flooded the balconies to watch their family members or pro climbers take on the challenge. Now the 40 or so routes will be removed so that the tourist arriving for the famous cave (le Grotte Demoiselle) won’t have to witness scruffy climbers “risking” their lives on the flat rock faces just next to the cave. “But perhaps we will rebolt the area for another event in a couple of years”, says Arnaud Catz, one of the main organisers of the event. Arnaud and Didier Franco from club Scalata Nature and Escalabel respectively, together with locals like Laurent Triay, have been working for free for 8 months with bolting, cleaning and preparing the routes for the event. The French federation, Petzl, Beal and other sponsors have helped with the logistics and provided all the necessary equipment.

Dave, Phillipe, Said, Steve, Lynn, Chris and Daniel © CJS

 As one of the main sponsors, Petzl arranged a “mini rock trip” to Thaurac and invited some of their team climbers to stir the crowd and try some of the five remaining projects before they would be closed. The American trio of Chris Sharma, Dave Graham and Lynn Hill were there, but Lynn was the only one to climb each day. Chris and Dave made a sensational drunken midnight ascent of a 7c, which was a crowd pleaser but I don’t know if the parents of the watching 12 year olds were equally happy with their children’s heroes. Some of the more active pros were Bertha Martins, Said Belhaj and Steve McClure, the latter being the first to send off one of the projects, Habeus Corpus, 8c/8b+, 2nd go. French strongmen Daniel Dulac and Jerome Pouvreau gave the home crowd something to cheer for during their intense trials of some of the projects, Jerome coming as close as a few meters away from sending the presumed 8c+. However, the sharp crimpy old school routes of Thaurac would show to be more than a mouthful in the humid heat of the hills and most of the projects remain.

Saint-Bauzille de Putois © CJS

 The pros and journalist stayed at the L’auberge de la Filature, a wonderful little hostel in Saint-Bauzille de Putois just below the cave. Here you were supplied with rustic accommodation in an old silk factory, and traditional cooking served with local wine. If it weren’t for the crazy owner who could turn from being your best friend to your worst enemy if you crossed him in any way, the place would have been perfect. But I guess this is what they call the French temper and as climbers are everything but organized it was somewhat understandable that he sometimes lost his patience. The problem, I suppose, is that the anger should be directed towards the responsible party and not towards three hungry journalists…

David Graham signing autographs © CJS

 The ever so active David Graham stood in the centre of attention both at the Auberge and on the crag, ravelling on about different aspects of climbing and the climbing life. At one point Dave even tried to convince Chris to get a 8a scorecard since “he should be representing and all he need is to remember 10 routes and then he would be up there among the best”. “But I don’t even know some of the grades of the routes that I climb”, was Chris answer trying to avoid the subject. Much ado was also spent on the 8a.nu scorecard rules and people were laughingly passing out red cards for unvalid ascents to the right and left. To mock the whole idea of regulating climbing through green, yellow and red card, Steve almost made it his goal to do as many red card ascents as possible. Team 8a, consisting of the webmaster Jonas, accountant Tomasz, and top gun Johan Svensson (me), went with the flow and tried to catch as many moments as possible.

Kid climber trying to bridge on a 6b+ © CJS

 Overall the Scalatabel event in Thaurac was a success and as a Swede it’s interesting to see how broad the interest for climbing is in France. It’s not just about grades and sending hard, but more about coming together, having a good time and climb a lot. The competition is just a teaser to bring out the best of everyone and, of course, to spot the future rulers. Rumour has it though that this was the last Scalatabel but I don't know why. Perhaps it is just too much work. Still, if there is an initiative it shouldn’t be a problem to keep doing this every year as long as the big brands in climbing help out. Events like this certainly helps to spread the sport to our young and show people what climbing is really about. In any case, if it’s on, 8a.nu will be there…