Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert is a medieval village in the Hérault gorges, about 40 km north-west of Montpellier, closed at its upper end by the limestone amphitheatre of the Cirque du Bout du Monde. The multipitch routes are on limestone above the usually dry Verdus stream, reached on foot from the village by the path along the stream. Climbing is banned by a 2002 municipal order on the cliffs on the left bank of the Verdus and only tolerated, without a federation agreement, on the right bank, and there is no current paper guidebook. Parking in the village is limited and paid all year. The village receives more than 300,000 visitors a year, and the back of the cirque is sheltered from the prevailing north-west wind.
GuidebookGuide des escalades en Pays d'Oc, Falaise de St Guilhem le Désert, Patrick Pagès, Roger Pierre-Auguste. Free topo. The route pages here are aggregated by AI from public sources; climb with the guidebook.
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Cirque du Bout du Monde above Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert · 350 m
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar (usual season) | Apr (usual season) | May (usual season) | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct (usual season) | Nov (usual season) | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean daily high °C | 9 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 20 | 24 | 28 | 27 | 23 | 17 | 12 | 9 |
| Mean daily low °C | 2 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 13 | 10 | 5 | 3 |
| Rain days 1 mm or more | 10 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 11 | 10 |
● usual season. 1991-2020 averages at about 350 m; rain is for a 10–25 km grid cell. Weather and climate data: Open-Meteo, CC BY 4.0.
France · Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert
A short, sustained and very steep limestone line at the back of the Cirque du Bout du Monde. Four pitches of technical, hard-to-read wall climbing on sharp, grippy rock, with the crux on the third pitch. The grades on the local topo are widely considered stiff.
6cVIII-5.11b6cVIII-5.11b4 pitches120 m
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