Petzl Roc Trips 2006

Martina Čufar Reports

My first Petzl Roc Trip was the one in 2004 in Millau. I am not in the Petzl team, but many people know that I love rock climbing and perform well, so I was invited to Millau. The journey there is too long to drive alone (1300km) so I asked Klemen Bečan to go with me. He eventually got the right to participate but still he was considered an outsider at the event. There were no cameras and photographers around when he was climbing. And he won! We both left as winners (I won the onsight event). But it's not the victory that was the most important thing. We both left Millau impressed by the superb event, positive energy, great climbers we had met and the good time we had spent together climbing in a relaxed atmosphere. We were really looking forward to the next events. This year it happened. Twice. First in Millau and then on Kalymnos. Let's go!

Petzl Roc Trip Millau
21st – 25th June 2006

This is like a dream! That’s the life I would like to live! - I wrote in my diary.

Let me explain what a Petzl Roc Trip is; it’s an international meeting of some of the world’s best rock climbers who are challenged with the “Ultimate Route” and lots of other routes opened especially for the event by some enthusiastic route setters (whom I really admire!). And that’s not all. The point is that everybody can participate in the “open” event, so at the cliff and later at the dinner and at the party, “the pros” are mixed with amateurs, and the Petzl mission: people, passion, adventure becomes real.

This year the Millau event took place on the cliff of Boffi. I loved it! Long routes, not so overhanging as in Cantobre two years ago and not so many pockets. The Women’s Ultimate Route, El deseo escandido 8b, was really nice, with a crimpy technical start, some long moves in the middle and a bouldery end. Twice a day we had half an hour to study the route. The sun was strong so the tactic was also important not to ruin your skin on the first climbing day. I waited for a fresh morning and I sent the route in the second attempt. I was the first of five girls who succeeded; the others were Chloe Minoret, Stephanie Bodet, Lynn Hill and Charlotte Duriff.