THE SOUND OF ROC TRIP

Still, to find out more about the Roc Trip than what I can see firsthand, I make plans to meet early one morning with Lafouche, 41, Head of Communications for Sport and Leisure for Petzl France, creator of the Roc Trip concept, and indefatigable techno DJ. When I arrive 10 minutes late, Lafouche is still asleep, but someone wakes him for me, and he comes out in his boxer shorts. His thick brown hair epitomizes the word “bedhead.” There are two faint red lines curling out from the center of his upper lip — a drawn-on moustache, Captain Morgan-style — which he doesn’t seem to be aware of. Roc Trip is also about partying and music, and Lafouche is the heart and soul of these aspects, too.

We begin talking. His English is very good, but strongly accented. “Man! I was kidnapped, at like 1 a.m., leaving the bar last night. Two Austrian girls took me dancing,” he says. I ask if that’s where he got the moustache. “What?! Oh man!” He says, touching his lip. “I don’t even know when I got back here,” he explains. From the look of him, it couldn’t have been more than a few hours ago. Nonetheless, we get down to business.

The idea for Roc Trip, I find, began in Lafouche’s hometown of Millau, in southern France (home to the Viaduc de Millau, which shuttles cars over the River Tarn and stands nearly as tall as the Empire State Building). He and a friend had organized successful youth competitions on the limestone sport crags there and, in 2002, while working for Petzl, Lafouche decided to try something new — Roc Trip Millau. The Petzl team members would compete for a trophy and three or four thousand Euros — whoever could climb the Ultimate Route first (or get the farthest on it) was the victor. (In subsequent Roc Trips, the reward for climbing the Ultimate Route has shrunk, making the events even less about competition and more about climbing.) The community response was very positive for the Millau event. Lafouche had his proof of concept.

As a former marketing manager for Adidas in the BMX and skateboarding areas, Lafouche knew that Roc Trip had to be more than just a way to get Petzl’s name out for it to stick with the core climbing community. “Look, with a typical comp, when it’s over, there’s nothing left — just a parking lot,” Lafouche says. “Roc Trip, when it’s over, it has to pay back to the area, or the climbing community in some way.” Money for access causes (the Red River Gorge, Kentucky, Roc Trip raised in the neighborhood of $30,000 to help climbers pay off a huge chunk of sandstone-rich land) is just one way of paying back, he says. Petzl typically opens new routes or even new areas for Roc Trips.

Here in Zillertal, two massive cliffs at the Bergstation area were cleaned and bolted for the occasion. Locals cleared the lower area of brush and trees near the cliffline, and even made a spectator log-bench out of a massive tree trunk. Plus, many moderate routes were added to an area known for its hard routes and stiff grades. (Old routes, too, got the treatment, receiving shiny new hardware.) Another bonus in the attention the towns of the Zillertal region are getting from this event — known for skiing more than anything, a healthy climbing scene mean more visitors in the slower summer months. For a town dependent on tourism, climber traffic is seen as a big plus. The months leading up to a Petzl Roc Trip are a flurry of logistics and preparation — aided by the Tourism Board of Mayrhofen, the town that’s playing host to Roc Trip; and local climbers — as the area gets ready to play host to an influx of stone monkeys from all over the world, from n00b to pro.

Lafouche hastened to add that Roc Trip is not the same everywhere — “There is no formula for Roc Trip,” he says. “It has adapted to the location, ethics, and people wherever it has gone.” Such adaptation is key when bringing outsiders to areas with protective locals and sometimes-sensitive access situations. To get an idea of how different Roc Trips can be check out the video section of Petzl’s website.

It’s Friday, and the rain looks to be slowing, so I’m at the tourism office in Mayrhofen. “Just take this street, like so,” the man behind the counter tells me when I ask where the Roc Trip buses stop. He turns to his left and makes a sawing-wood gesture with his arm, hand out flat, thumb up. “Until you reach the whootin fillage.”

“The Wu Tang fillich?” I ask.

“The whootin fillage,” he repeats.

“The whootin fillage?” I try again.

“Yes, yes — the whootin fillage.”

Confused, but with at least a general direction to follow, I walk out into the cobblestone streets, surrounded by centuries-old Teutonic beam-and-stucco buildings. From the way the tourism guy said it, I figure I can’t miss the “whootin fillage.” And anyway, the sun is poking out, so it’s as good a time as any for stroll.

As I amble through the streets, I gawk up at steep, pine tree-covered slopes just beyond the houses, and behind those, Alpine peaks still snow-capped in July. In only a few blocks, I pass a Mayrhofen sign with a big red line through it, indicating I’ve left the town. That’s a small town, I think to myself, just as I catch sight of a big collection of wood cabins and shelters on my left, cars with climbing bumper stickers double parked all around it. Ah, the Wooden Village — of course.

I wait out front of the Wooden Village, where climbers visiting for Roc Trip Zillertal set up camp, for a special climbers-only bus, destination: the striking roadside pillars of the Ewige Jagdgründ area. Under the shelter of the Wooden Village, cafeteria-style tables of Euro hippies from all over the continent heat up breakfast on propane stoves. As the name indicates, everything in the Wooden Village is made of wood, and looks a bit like a Linkin Log construction. The bus rumbles in and engulfs a squadron of climbers of probably a half-dozen nationalities; we head up into the granite-packed hills of the Zillertal region, in the charter busses massive, climate-controlled embrace.

When the weather finally does break, I expect there to be a scramble for the hills. In the States, many climbers (even sport craggers) still make alpine (aka super early) starts, to get coffee, hike in, and be climbing before the rock gets warm. But these pros don’t seem too hurried. At 9 a.m., I can’t find a soul — they must all be sleeping. I go for a walk, check out the Wooden Village scene (sleepy), stop in a souvenir shop to browse the cowbell key chains, and make sure my camera batteries are charged. I head back to the hotel, in which nearly every room houses a 5.14 climber, around 10:30 and find the Euro team seated around the table in the dining room, enjoying a leisurely Austrian breakfast (coffee, rolls, sausage, lunch meats, fruits, hardboiled eggs, even soft pretzels).

Soon though, momentum builds, and the few eager climbers prod the more relaxed ones toward the vans and buses. The British rockmaster Steve McClure, a father and all-around busy guy, has no patience for what he sees as the typically French approach to doing things (i.e., slow). Eventually, we end up bouldering in a massive field full of cows and granite blocs from 10 to 30 feet tall. A collective sigh of relief issues from climbers rounding a bend on the approach to see the idyllic scene.

Petzl issued a little informational booklet for climbers attending Roc Trip Zillertal, with bus and entertainment schedules and rough maps of the climbing areas included in the trip. The booklet’s artwork is very unique, with a South Parkesque image of cows on a bright green background (grass). In the grass are gray and gold boulders, yellow mountain flowers, and cow pies beset with flies. A confused man in traditional Austrian garb (lederhosen with knee socks and a slanted Alpine cap, complete with feather) claws his way up the cow instead of the boulders. While climbing in the Sundergrund area, I am surprised to see nearly every element from the illustration come to life before me (minus the cow-climbing). Two cows kneel and then settle onto their bellies, munching grass and watching us boulder. Flies are abundant, and a lederhosened man even passes us at one point. The climbing is superb, the granite nicely featured, and all along the approach, we pass tumbles of blocs on the side of the path and in the woods. The only downside is that much of the climbing is brutally hard. As it says in the intro to the booklet, “…A bunch of crazy strong climbers opened nearly all the routes [here],” so moderates are rare (though the Roc Trip helped to change that). Still, pros and non-pros alike throw themselves at the rocks, enjoying the fresh air and the views. Sundergrund, home to Moonwalk, the problem that graces the guidebook’s cover, is one of the most scenic bouldering spots anywhere.

With so many areas spread out through the slopes and valleys of Zillertal, it can be hard to decide where to go. One of the most impressive walls of the Roc Trip, the Schwartzwand (Black Wall, in English) stays frustratingly saturated for the whole weekend, but another, Upper Bergstation, is dry and boasts a true king line: a 300-foot sport project that takes a 5.12 face into a hard boulder problem at about 100 feet, and then flares out on a massive, ocean-liner prow floating in the sky. I belay Steve McClure on this briefly, using a special super-long 9.4mm Petzl rope. And it’s at this crag that Lynn Hill starts chatting with the editor of the Italian magazine Pareti in Italian. She explains she also speaks French, and a bit of Spanish. Later, I find myself in the crossfire at a table where English, Spanish, German, and French are flying back and forth. Dave Graham tells of his nomadic climber lifestyle: “You have to learn the language, learn to defend yourself. I just want to climb.” The words pour out of mouth, then he pauses and says something in Spanish to Dani Andrada at a neighboring table. And this is one of the beautiful things about the Petzl Roc Trips in Europe — they’re so damn international. Truly global events, the Zillertal Roc Trip drew over 600 climbers from 27 countries, despite iffy weather forecasts as the event approached. Climbers came from Australia, Canada, Russia, even Tunisia and Malawi. Petzl even managed bring out two Iranian climbers who’d never been to Europe, despite heavy travel restrictions.

Which all leads me to the point that if you haven’t, you really should consider getting out there — to Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, South America. I know the dollar isn’t what is used to be, but still, very little of the outside world makes it into the American bubble, and the amount of rock in the alps… let’s just say there’s a reason so many Europeans climb and ski. The Petzl Roc Trip is a great excuse to do this — as climbers at a Roc Trip, you’ll find yourself instantly surrounded by a surrogate family. Language barriers don’t seem so big when you’re among folks with a shared love. Zillertal, rain and all, was a sweet installment of an event series unique to climbing. If you weren’t there don’t worry, the next Roc Trip’s coming to a town probably nowhere near you soon. Stay tuned.

THE ROC TRIP TIMELINE

With 12 events in seven years, the Petzl Roc Trip has become an institution in the climbing world. Still many American’s have yet to attend one. The videos of the trips can be found at petzl.com (or by Googling “Roc Trip”). Click here to watch a video of the 2008 Petzl RocTrip at the Zillertal, Austria by Guillaume Broust. Video, in fact, has been an important part of the trip since the first event, in 2002, when as Lafouche puts it, “digital media really exploded for Mr. Everybody.” Petzl’s also held many other smaller, events, like Targasonic (Targasonne, France), X-tone (Llerida, Catalonia), and the famed Navalameca event, in Spain, which yielded the wildly creative Navalameca 70s – The Movie, directed by Guillaume Broust.

• 2002 — Millau, France
• 2002 — Bishop, California
• 2003 — Millau, France
• 2003 — Gunks, New York
• 2004 — Millau (Cantobre)
• 2004 — Sheffield, England
• 2005 — Squamish, British Columbia
• 2006 — Millau (Boffi)
• 2006 — Kalymnos, Greece
• 2007 — Red River Gorge, Kentucky
• 2008 — Millau (St. Marcellin)
• 2008 — Zillertal, Austria

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