Raimmy's blog

Looking for climbing partners

Aug 31, 20253 min read

Hey!

I’m a French hiker/climber/mountaineer working at UC Berkeley for the summer (will be leaving early September), and I’m looking for hiking/climbing partners!

I’m looking for climbing partners :

  • for Touchstone climbing gyms (mainly Berkeley Ironworks - week days)
  • for outdoor sessions (week days / week ends)
  • for climbing trips to Yosemite / other places (week ends / vacation)

And also for hiking partners to :

  • do small hikes near Berkeley (during week days / week ends)
  • do longer hikes / small backpacking trips farther away (week ends / small vacation)

My US climbs so far:

  • Mount Tamalpais
  • Mount Diablo state park
  • Yosemite
  • The Grotto
  • Yosemite
  • Mickey’s beach

My bucket list:

  • Tuolomne (Cathedral Peak + others)
  • Lake Tahoe
  • Bishop?
  • any other cool place

My schedule :

Week daysWeek endVacation
working - can be at Ironworks / somewhere else at 5/6pm - can occasionally leave work earlyavailable!I’ll be able to have ~2 weeks of vacation during the summer (whenever I want)

For the weeks of vacation, I’d like to organize a trip to Yosemite or some other cool places!

Ranked by favorite - climbing disciplines :

  • ridge route (like Aiguille Dibona, Arêtes du Gerbier - this one I still haven’t uploaded yet even though the place is absolutely amazing, Petite lance de Domène or Aiguille du pin)
  • multi-pitch (like any trip in the Calanques 1 2 3 4, in Ailefroide 1 2 3 4 or in the Esterel 1 2 3)
  • trad climbing 1 (in fact, many routes in the trips mentioned above were trad climbing, but I like trad climbing even if it’s one pitch long and easy)
  • sport climbing (most places mentioned above also includes sport climbing)
  • bouldering - hem. I’m not a boulderer, but why not if it is really necessary :)

On crack climbing: I discovered that when arriving in the US. I’m still very bad but I tend to get the feeling (i.e. I decently survive if the crack is the good size (not too thin, not too wide)).

Some information about the grades I climbed:

DisciplineIndoorOutdoorTrad 1Crack climbing
Grade (lead)5.11d5.115.8/95.9

Note that I don’t have a car, but I do have gear (50m rope, stoppers and cams, slings, …). Also, I do have camping/backpacking gear (tent, camp stove, …).

You might want to take a look at my climbing blog.

Footnotes

  1. Trad in Europe is really different from in the US. We don’t have cracks, so trad climbing is waaaaaaay less frequent (most climbers do not have cams because why the hell do you need them?2). Basically, you place gear when you can and not when you want (because cracks make it so easy to place gear anytime you want). ↩ ↩2

  2. Well, I need cams because I mountaineer and do trad climbing (which still exists, even though it is not that popular). ↩