4th May Last day today!!! Nothing terribly exciting to report. Quick visit of a nearby park, before lunch over an american bouchon sandwich (over hyped weird combination of piggy saw mai in a sandwich, topped with French fries and melted cheese). Final chill at jul's before heading to the airport, where we are currently waiting to board.
St denis has treated us fabulously, with great weather every day spent there. Highlights include climbing at la montagne and niagara!

Cilaos was bit more of a mixed experience...We missed the scenic drive on the way, due to heavy rainfall and fog… What was supposed to be the highlight of our trip, sunrise over piton des neiges was ruined by the weather. It did somewhat make up for it with the climbing at ‘'les fleurs jaunes’
St pierre hated us,and we hated it back :P :P :P seriously though, the missed piton de la fournaise hike was a massive bummer!!! The awesome langevin waterfalls and the fun indoor bouldering don’t even come close to compensating for it...but hey, can't control the weather…
Favourite climbing spot: niagara; how can it get any better, climbing in the shade with waterfalls as back drop? :-)
Best climbing route: l’eperon facecieux, my first 6a outdoor lead climb
Best hike must be the morning hike to the summit. Despite the terrible conditions, and the missed views, the challenge was definitely exciting :-)
Best meal at Chu Yu Chee M.Lourdes . That chicken curry!!! That rougaille saucisse reunion style!!! That pittaya iced tea beverage!!!! And that ginger mango chutney!!! Even the desserts were really tasty!!! And everyone knows I'm not a dessert animal!!!
Biggest let down : French pastry :P :P

Big thanks to Denis Li Lung Hok for making us move our bums and having our tickets booked. Pascal Lee for setting an awesome route and doing the donkey research work, Jul Mercier for driving us around (and cleaning up our mess in the car :P ), Rhony Lee for being our professional belayer!!!
Thanks all for the great company and shared fun :-)

Day 10 3rd May: with Pascal Lee Rhony Lee Denis Li Lung Hok Jul Mercier
Based of the abysmal forecast, and the actual matching weather in the morning in st pierre, I really thought that our stop at decathlon, the outdoors shop, would be the highlight of the day!!!

Nap on the way to st denis, and wake up mid route to a glorious sun!!! We had already tightly packed all the climbing gear, thinking that our climbing days in reunion were over, and it would have been a nightmare to get it out in the middle of nowhere, so we decided to skip ‘colimacons’ (the climbing spot planned the day before the weather turned really crap), and unpack at the hotel in st denis. Quick lunch stop for rougaille saucisse reunion style, before heading to ‘la montagne’ climbing spot.

The guys all seem out of energy. Denis still has sore shoulders from the bouldering on the Eve, so he quits after a 5b, . Pascal lazes by the rocks, before deciding to make a move with Rhony; few 5b and 4s for them. It seems jules and myself are the only ones gunning for it. Remember the 6a that made me shed skin on the very first climbing session?We're back to conquer it!!! Jules sets off first and finds the beta (route info) to complete it. With that info, and lots of grit, I do as well :-) last 6a for the day is too tough for either of us in lead, but I do manage to complete it in top rope (my fave climbing style for tough routes).

Dinner menu at Chu Yu Chee M.Lourdes' is stewed piggy, gratin, stir fried beans and bishik (baby fishies)..with chocolate gateau and bavarois for dessert :-) :-) :-)

Day 9 2nd May: with Pascal Lee Rhony Lee Denis Li Lung Hok Jul Mercier
Piton de la fournaIse hike today.

The weather at st pierre is overcast but dry, which gives us a glimmer of hope for the day. The road to the active volcano is a nearly 2 hour drive, the first section through forest, tarred and well maintained, the second through ‘plaine des sables’ is just broken tracks, covered with shrubs typical of vegetation at high altitudes (above 2000m in this case). According to Rhony, the latter section is a Unesco World Heritage site, and they are only allowed to patch it with gravel collected by the road side.
As we gain elevation, weather gets progressively worse, and by the time we reach ‘Pas de bellecombe’, the starting point of our hike, drizzle with very cold winds welcome us. Arguably, the conditions are worse than the piton des neiges summit attempt, and after an initial 50m hike, the guys decide to give up. It's not about reward being worth the effort and the pain, there is no reward in this case!!!

Lower down, we are below the clouds, and there is the possibility of a mini walk up the ‘Nez de boeuf’ peak. From there we can see the huge cloud formations crawling down the lower slopes, slowly engulfing the landscape. It's not going to be pretty by the coast either later on, and our contingency rock climbing plans seem comprised as well.

I sleep on the drive back down to st denis, and downpour down there!
What else can aspiring climbers do when the weather turns sour? Indoor Bouldering!!! :-) :-) :-)
The place is just an open shed, with the walls plastered with boards of varying inclines and shapes. Holds of different colours define the route difficulty ranging from the easy yellows to the impossible blacks. After an easy warm up on the yellows, we move to the greens and eventually the Blues, which are rated 6a!
3.5 hour session, and we are all knackered.
Shower, followed by dinner in a Chinese restaurant as guests of Pascal and Rhony's relatives. Sleep!