Guillaume Vales
Born in 1969, Guillaume Vales is an experienced climber who has climbed all over the world. North Africa, Jordan, Greece, Madagascar, Cuba, Thailand, South America, and of course Italy, Spain, and France are amongst his favorite destinations.
Previously a sales executive in an international company, the discovery of the art of climbing in the Calanques of Marseille in 1996 changed his life and helped him to make the decisive move from the office “open spaces” to real wild open spaces.
Now Guillaume is a State certified climbing guide, regularly leading up to 7C and lives in a small house just 20 minutes walk from the crags. His job (and passion!) is to share his enjoyment of climbing and of beautiful natural spaces with others.
His job takes him to the Calanques of Marseille, the other legendary crags of Provence and classic multipitch destinations all over the world (for example Wadi-Rum, Taghia, Tsaranoro, Yosemite…).
Vincent Vilmer
With over 15 year’s of guiding experience Vincent enjoys sharing his passion for the vertical life. He enjoys multi-pitch climbing in particular and loves introducing the tallest cliffs to beginners.
Olivier Michaud
Olivier has a passion for climbing and canyoning. He values his time outdoors; whether he is pushing his personal climbing limit or taking a beginner climbing for the first time.
“It was great to put the skills I had learnt indoors into action in such a beautiful environment!”
M Bamber, Bristol, UK
Qualifications
All the guides are certified with a specialist rock climbing qualification known as a “Brevet d’Etat Escalade”. The Brevet is a tough qualification; before being accepted on the course candidates must be able to climb three 7a routes in 24 minutes under competition conditions!
Guides certified with a Brevet d’Etat are specialised in pure rock climbing guiding and coaching.
Sometimes, when Guillaume, Vincent, and Olivier are not available we work with other guides; Norbert, Pierre, Laure, Moko, and Alan. These guides are all qualified, experienced, and insured however they might not be completely fluent in English.
