Tarn x Jonte: A climbers playground

Getting to know the multi pitch and sport climbing close to Millau in Southern France

On the eastern outskirts of the Cevenne mountains in southern France the Jonte and Dourbie rivers flow into the Tarn to form a cluster of valleys. Close to the major town of Millau (maybe best known for the giant highway bridge spanning the valley here) the Dourbie valley meets the Tarn. A few kilometers further north the Tarn and Jonte rivers join at the small village of Le Rozier. 

The Tarn valley is best known for its long history of sport climbing and features a lot of famous limestone crags. While most of the historic areas do mostly host hard (and very hard) routes, there are a lot of newer areas with more intermediate grades as well. 

While there is also some very good sport climbing to be found in the Jonte valley the main attraction here are the bizarre limestone features and the multi pitch lines on them. A local quirk are the 50 meters and longer routes that are supposed to be climbed in one go.

As we were on our way further west and had only a few days here this time we first sampled one of the sport areas close to Le Rozier called Le Muse: A very good introduction to the local permutation of limestone (which is definitely different from what we get here on Mallorca) with its blocky structure. 

The next two days we climbed a proud line right in the Cirque the Vases. Four pitches of solid 6a and 6b climbing on great rock and one of the best settings I have climbed in up to date. 

We followed up the next day with another four pitch 5c+ on Le Reverend, which is right over Le Rozier. A great mix of technical face climbing, corners and a wild exit chimney. 

There are dedicated guidebooks for the Tarn and Jonte valleys (and Dourbie as well) that are very good and cover most of the climbing here. Most of the routes in the area are fully bolted but the bolting on the multi pitches seems to be „according to difficulty“: So on a 6b route the 5c pitches are fairly spaced. For our short visit we stayed in Le Rozier and could reach all areas by walking. 

In summary: We will be back for more!

Adventurers: Brigitte, Wolf and Bengt