Petzl RocTrip 2014: Yoga, Climbing, Local Parties
Stefanie | January 15, 2017
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Traveling, exploring nature, having a good time together with other climbers – these are one of the best things about climbing for me. At the first basecamp of the Petzl RocTrip 2014 in Romania where I taught yoga sessions in the morning, we had a terrific experience including climbing in new charming areas, and coming together with climbers from all over the world. Here’s what I got out of the trip any why you shouldn’t miss the next trip.
Having never been to Romania before, I imagined that it might be similar to Croatia, hot and dry.
Therefore, I was pretty surprised by how green the landscape is in the southern-western part of the country. We passed many small villages on our way to the basecamp, unfortunately many of the buildings with beautiful architecture were in a bad state.
The first basecamp of this Petzl RocTrip
The basecamp was in the center of Baile Herculane, a small town being famous for tourism, hot springs, and the beauty of its surrounding mountains.
So ... where are the climbers?
On the first day we had scheduled a yoga session at 9am. A few climbers showed up early, but others slowly arrived later and there was quite some confusion as the registration wasn’t open yet as expected.
“Where are all the climbers to go climbing?” I asked myself, watching a few climbers and many older people (definitively not climbers) hanging around in the basecamp.
“I don’t want to wait until the afternoon. Let’s ask someone to go climbing with us”, I said to Carlos, who was taking pictures. That’s when we first met Chiba from the USA.
The sector Vanturatoarea, we were heading for, is a very beautiful and pretty new sector. The steep climb of 40 minutes seemed endless, especially with the heat at around 1 PM. Woah! Definitely a great choice of the Petzl RocTrip.
Stopping on the first area of Faleza de Jos, we climbed some beautiful, short and long routes on lime stone.
The next day, when going further into the sector, we passed an amazing waterfall, surrounded by high rocks and forests. What a fantastic place!
Get up and go! Time for Yoga
After the first morning, more and more climbers showed up on our morning yoga sessions: Johann from Germany, Alexander from Austria, Chiba and Greg from US, Reid from Canada, D’Ali from Tunisia, Michael, Chris and Jon from UK, Tobie from France, Eline from the Netherlands, Oana and Marian from Romania … and many more.
What an awesome group, having a lot of fun! What I love most about climbers doing yoga is that they are usually easy-going, more relaxed, and there is greater sense of community than in usual yoga classes.
Unexpected parties
OK, the program said that local parties would take place … but I think that none of us expected the traditional shows, dances and loud music to last so long!
I have nothing against local parties, but that was definitively too much for me, since I had expected to be among climbers and not on a folk festival.
I think that’s why the Petzl team’s presentations unfortunately didn’t attract the attention they could have attracted. The short movies and presentations about current projects we saw, were very interesting – I would have loved more of them.
Due to the strong rain, however, some had to be canceled. At least the rocks were not wet!
Summary
The Petzl RocTrip has been one of my greatest experiences due to the amazing landscape and a fantastic group of international climbers.
Unfortunately, Carlos and I had to return after Romania due to current projects we were working on at that time.
I think that joining a few days is better than not at all, but next time I would love to stay more time. I am curious about the next RocTrip, and hope it will fit in our schedules.
How about you? Have you ever been to a "RocTrip"?