Chapeau du Gendarme, Ubaye, France (or “this path is worth finding”)

I’ve used that phrase before, somewhere back in another post from another time, “this path is worth finding”. It was from a book of “14’ers” in Colorado, some of which the access was off the beaten path in a literal sense. When there was a nominal path, the guide book said, “This path is worth finding.”

On this particular rock face, you can see a thin horizontal line across the lower part….

…and that’s the darned path!

My partner has an excellent guide book with good directions, in German, but I can’t understand all very well. The French book did mention a “suspended path” so I was looking for one, but he was very, very sure that we weren’t looking for….what we needed to find. Three hours later (for a two hour hike) we found the path. It’s as wide a sidewalk, but the drop on one side is about what you’d imagine.

By the time we found the climb we wanted to do, with many wrong turns and an attempt to pass a large, steep gorge (which I nixed out of fear of sliding to my death), we were exhausted. We only climbed four pitches of the seven pitch “Sonnez et montez”. It was hard, the sun was relentless, and there was a cold wind blowing.

The nice thing about being off the path for hours and hours is that we saw many wild mountain goats.

I’ll put up more climbs soon, since the last two weeks my partner and I have been taking advantage of my last weeks of sabbatical together. Today is more about relaxing. We did a short climb this morning and now Foro and I are just hanging out, watching the laundry dry.

Just remember, the path — in life, work, or climbing — is worth finding!