Day 3 26th April : with Pascal Rhony Lee Denis Li Lung Hok Jul Mercier
Early start today. Determined to lose the least amount of time, we did the lunch shopping before we set off. Managed to get on site at around 9.30, so full day of climbing ahead!

We had been a bit worried about the weather after we got some meteo alerts on the Eve of impending doom, but luckily, these seemed to be unfounded, (at least where we are based, in and around st denis). The contingency hike, chemin des anglais, was binned and we stayed the course on our planned climbing orgy.

So today, back to Niagara at st suzanne, the site of our aborted morning climb of the Eve; this time without any rugrats :) we have the whole wall just to ourselves! First impressions, the rock is very bdc like, smooth with scattered lichen…

The general fauna however is very albion like, with pigeons galore. Luckily the poo and associated smell situation is nowhere as bad.

Something quite striking in this spot, is that every so often, the pest birds get into a collective frenzy, flocking around in circles at the sight of the papangue, a local bird of prey. As soon as the predator clears the area, they go back into hiding in every nook and cranny, probably shitting happily on our playground :P or is the shitting the result of fear of the papangue??? Matter for investigation by the conservationist of our group, Denis… … … :P :P :P

On the climbing side, I'm having some minor issues adapting to my backup pair of katana shoes which have stiffer and less sticky soles than my normal fave. The brand ‘new' genius suffered a killer blow on the Eve, during a lead fall where the tip of the no edge sole maintained contact with the abrasive wall throughout the fall :( it's now got a gaping hole in the big toe area :( oh well… I'll add the cost of replacement to the reunion expenses…

Couple of 4b and c to start things off, before moving to the more challenging 5 grades. By lunch time, we only manage to clear 3 routes. To be fair, the top points of these routes are placed significantly higher than those at ‘la montagne’. So more moves and more time required to complete each.
By the end of the day, we manage to complete only 2 additional 5cs.
Last climbs of the day were 6a (me and juls) and 5a (pascal and Denis). Juls went first and could only manage to top it with a few cheats, using holds on neighbouring routes. I followed on top rope, and made it with some assist from my belayer.
On the other route, Denis managed to split his trousers wide open by doing the splits on the rocks. I keep telling people that shorts are the way forward for all tropical outdoor activities!!! They don't inhibit your lower body movements, provide good ventilation and their comfort level is unparalleled. Heck, shorts should be allowed to be worn everywhere 😝😝. Unfortunately, people are not easily swayed by logic!!! :P close of climbing day at 5pm...:-) :-) :-)

Forgettable kebab dinner followed by meal saving trio scoops of igloo gelato; melon, passion fruit and coffee :-) :-) :-)
Time to pack up for the move to Cilaos.