Ceuse

French sport climbing at its best!

one of the best sport crags in the world!

the top climbing destination!

These are a few quotes I have heard over the past few years about Ceuse. A crag in the south of France that has become more and more famous over the past few years as it has featured in the world climbing press on numerous occasions and has also been in several climbing movies, showcasing its many hard lines that are at the cutting edge of our sport. I have wanted to climb here for a long time now, and this summer I finally got the chance.

Ceuse from the campsite

The crag sits over the Town of Gap and is very impressive in terms of scale and the visual impact it has over the surrounding landscape.

If you read about Ceuse the first comments you will come across was that this is not convenient sport climbing, 5 Min's from the car, no its 1hours uphill slog to the cliff and this is true, although I did come across a guy who ran there and back in 42Min's before breakfast!

The walk is best done early in the morning to avoid the mid day sun which will have you sweating and burning in equal measure.

Once at the cliff you will want to climb in the shade and in summer this means heading for the 'Sector Cascade'. This area of the crag is visually very impressive, with steep vibrantly colored walls rising from the trees. The walls here are steep, often starting out over large pocketed roofs before the long steep head-walls are encounted.

There are many famous lines here, 'Super Mickey' and 'Vagabond' to name just two . The brilliant thing about ceuse is that you could rattle off a long list of very impressive climbs that would be famous any where in the world, the fact they all sit side by side is what makes this cliff incredible.

Simon climbing at 'Sector Cascade'

As the sun comes around the crag, most climbers will spend some time relaxing in the shade under the great overhangs in the center of the cliff having lunch, reading, playing games just letting the morning pump die away. Once the sun moves around, other sectors come into play such as Berlin, Biography and Demi lune, all with their three star incredible lines.

The crag is famous for some truly hard climbing, and with routes such as Chris Sharma's nine degrees of separation and Biography it does attract some very, very strong climbers from around the world. I never thought id see the day that climbers were queuing to have a go on F8c but that is an every day occurrence at Ceuse.

Nick climbing at 'Demi Lune'

We spent two weeks climbing here and over that period i did not find a single piece of loose rock, every bolt i clipped was perfect and the climbing was always brilliant, so if sport climbing is your game and you climb around F7a or above then Ceuse must be on your list of places to visit. 

Nikki going for it at Ceuse

For the lower grades, F6b and below, there are plenty along the cliff, but personally I belive there are better places in europe to climb in the 6's.

So all in all this is a fantastic location the climbing is brilliant the campsite below is cheap and well maintained, the walk in will help keep you fit and you will probably have one of the best sport climbing trips of your life, so get out there!

happy climbing

simon