A while ago I picked up a free topo guide from a person who had to stop climbing due to health reasons. The topo looked interesting to me, but I'd never heard of the area before. The person told me the area was best suited as a spring destination, so I decided that a trip during the Dutch May vacation would be perfect. I gathered a few people that were also interested and off we went for a week long trip to Bourgogne.
Even though it was early May, the weather was almost too warm to climb south facing crags. But we were able to keep it cool enough by switching up where we'd climb and resting in the shade of the trees at the bottom of the crag.
We selected a section of Bourgogne, because it's so spread out. It's over two hours to drive between the furthest crags. We selected the area around Vitteaux since it suited what we were looking for. Crags with enough (easy) routes. I've had a great time exploring this section, but might head back another time to explore a different section.
Traveling to Bourgogne
We traveled to the area by car from the Netherlands. With about 8 hours of drive time it's a very doable trip. A portion of the drive was over toll roads which makes things a bit more expensive. The last hour of the trip was on smaller roads through the beautiful countryside of the Bourgogne. If you want to travel by public transportation it is possible to take the train to Dijon and from there a 2 hour bus ride to Saffres. From Saffres you can hike to the crag, it is about half an hour to walk there.
Where to stay
The topo I picked up covers quite a big region so it was important to choose a crag that would interest us for a full week. I found that Saffres offered what we were looking for and so we looked for accommodation close to that crag. A part of our group decided to stay in an AirBnb in the small town of Saffres. A friend and I found a nice AirBnb in Vesvres. Both towns are very close to the main town of Vitteaux. This town has a campground, supermarket, restaurants, gas station, cafés and boulangeries. If you don't have your own transport I highly recommend staying in Saffres because from there it is possible to hike to the crag.
Topo Guides
The topo guide that I took over is by Jingo Wobbly and is called Bourgogne. This one dates back to 2003 but there are newer versions available. The guide is great at giving an overview of the crags in the area. However, of the bigger crags only a small selection of routes is added to the guide. For Saffres they noted in the guide where you'll be able to find a full guide, so I expect that they do this for most crags. Which is what we did for Saffres. On the days that we went to other crags, the Jingo Wobbly guide was sufficient.
At the tourist office (Bureau d'Information Touristique de Vitteaux) we were able to find the local topo guide for Saffres. It's not available online. It's very extensive, with solid information about every route and beautiful pictures of each section. All information like length, difficulty, name and orientation is there, except how many quickdraws you need. The guide is written only in French.
Climbing
Since the crags in Bourgogne are so spread out it's hard to write about the general climbing in this area. I've been to three different crags and each has its own style. In general I can say that the climbing here is quite vertical which makes many routes quite physical. Even very easy climbs often require quite a bit of strength. The easier popular climbs are sometimes a bit more polished, but nothing is so slippery that you can't stay on.
Saffres
This crag is popular, but big enough for all people to spread out and enjoy a good session. With about 350 routes in grades ranging from 4a to 7c. We spent about 5 days climbing here and I really enjoyed it. Looking back at the topo I see that there are a lot of routes and areas that we didn't check out. Since almost all the climbing here is very powerful, I mostly climbed in the 5th grade. But still then there are quite a few climbs left. I think I could spend two weeks here, with some resting days in between and still have enough to climb.
Hauteroche
This crag is home to a local climbing club. They use it as their training location, so you'll find a lot of training hardware around the base of the rocks. They've put up signs to direct climbers towards the different sectors, which was really helpful. Especially because we had a hard time lining up our Jingo Wobbly guide to the rock. We learned from other climbers that there is a topo for just this area, I've linked it below. We only went here for a morning session, so it's hard to give you a detailed description of this crag. However, we struggled to find the easier climbs and they weren't the most fun to do. We were surprised how busy it was. There was at least one group there who was doing a course. I think the crag can be fun if you take the time to figure out what is what and if you climb higher grades.
Géligny
This crag is a former quarry and is the perfect place to go if climbing in Saffres is too hot. As for all these types of crags, the area isn't very beautiful, but they've managed to put up some very interesting climbs. Make sure that you park in the town below, it's the easiest way to get to the crag since it's very hidden in the forest.
Gear
The three crags that I've been to were all very well bolted, all true sport crags. Some places are a bit more spacious than others, but nothing too crazy. Most bolts are glue-ins and in the top you'll find a chain with a rappel ring and often an extra bolt next to it. The routes are all 35 meters or shorter, so with a 70 meter rope you're good. If you have longer quickdraws, bring them. The bolting is often not so straight, so longer draws will surely help against rope drag. Bring enough quickdraws for the longer climbs, 12 to 14 should be enough.
Climbing partner
Saffres is quite popular, so on most days you'll find multiple groups of people climbing. Most of the people we encountered were very friendly. However, it didn't look like anybody came out alone and matched up with other climbers. If you ask, you might be accepted to join for a bit, but I personally wouldn't bet on it. Also, most climbers were French and many didn't speak English. Another option is posting in the Entre Grimpeurs Facebook group to find partners.
What else to do
The area consists of a very beautiful hilly landscape. There are some hiking trails, information on those can be found at the tourist office. I can also imagine that cycling can be a great activity here. I can't think of anything else to undertake.
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