My vertical world: 2020

Just back from a nice alpine adventure with Jeroen.

We spent 12 days in La Berarde. Some mulitpitch routes in the valley and three larger routes (Tete des Fetoules South Face, Grand Aiguille de la Berarde Traverse and West Ridge of Pic Nord des Cavales).

1. Tete des Fetoules, Pilier Sud, TD, 500m, 6a.

The Tete des Fetoules is the first massive mountain when driving from Bourg d'Oisans to St Christophe. The normal route goes up the north face. To reach the foot of the south face you have to walk for 2 hours to the refuge de Lavey and from there in another 2,5 hours to the start of the route. We decided to make our biwak at 2200m. After climbing we could pick up our camping stuff to walk down the car again. Good topo on camp to camp https://www.camptocamp.org/routes/54655/fr/tete-des-fetoules-pilier-s

Next morning we started at 6 AM and started climbing at 8 AM. Long walk to the start of the route, there was a large snow field and early in the morning we definitley needed crampons to reach the start of the first pitch. In the Cambon guide the first pitch was rated 4b, but due to glacier retreat it was a pretty interesting first pitch to reach the ridge. Jeroen did a great job leading.

Thereafter it got easier, but the rock was very loose. I doubted about continuing, but luckily Jeroen was still full of adrenaline. And the nice thing was that from the start of the 3rd ressaut the rock got really good, steep granite with the crux pitch a steep slightly overhanging hand and fist crack. I really enjoyed the climbing there. We were slow this day, but since the route was not too long it was ok. At 5 PM we were on top, perfect day - after the long descent we took two rest days to recover. First alpine rock climb this summer.

perfect place for the night

approach, first to the foot the west ridge and then scramble up to the right...

start

in the steep part of the first pitch...

end of first pitch, steep, ...

start of pitch 2, on the ridge

pitch 4, with the 3rd ressaut clearly visible...

the crux pitch, pitch 5, first pitch on the third ressaut, perfect steep granite crack...

pitch 2 on the 3rd ressaut,

on top of the 3rd ressaut, looking towards the fourth one...

on the fourth ressaut, one pitch climbs on the left, really good rock!

airy traverse on the 5th ressaut.... but easy...

20m abseil at the end of the 5th ressaut.

yeah, summit! Ecrins in the back...

descent on the north side, no big deal, but it's still glacier travel! be prepared.

We climbed with just one 50m single rope which was perfect. Since there is almost no gear in the route (some pitons, but no belays) bring a rack of cams (0.2 to 3), for the crux pitch a no.4 is perfect but not necessary.

2. Granitude and Traverse of the Grand Aiguilles de la Berarde

The Grand Aiguille is a pretty massive mountain exactly above the campground in La Berarde. The size of the mountain appears only if you walk into the Etancons valley. We made our biwak at 2200 where the normal route continues south and the approach to Granitude starts. We took 7 liters of water with us since there is no water at the biwak site. Route description of Granitude and the traverse are reported camptocamp (https://www.camptocamp.org/routes/55079/fr/grande-aiguille-de-la-berarde-granitude).

The approach is not obvious at all. Even with headlights it is almost impossible to find the right traverse through the runnels, cairns are scarce. The rock on Granitude is generally very good. The climbing is nice, some pitons in place and the belays are equipped (1 bolt and 1 piton). Since the upper part of Granitude is not very steep I cannot recommend abseiling the route. Another reason of course is that you miss the alpine part, the traverse is not very difficult but makes it more of an adventure. I leadclimbed the 6a pitch of Granitude. Compared to the other pitches that pitch is challenging. Slab climbing with scarce protection, last piton 8m below the crux move on the slab. It was ok,, but is in stark contrast with the rest of the route (fun climbing). The descent is on very, very, very loose rock, but ok. Nice adventure overall. We had one rack of cams and a 60m double rope with us. We did not need crampons to reach the first pitch.

No better place to biwak!!!

almost at the start of the route...

first pitch...

second pitch

third pitch

start of the 6a pitch (it is possible to avoid that pitch on the left...)

pitch 6

view of the upper part after the 7 pitches, we simul climbed until the last pitch close to the ciseaux (clearly visible on the ridge left of the center).

in the upper part

nice last pitch to top out on the ridge (5b or so...)

on the ridge...

descent from the summit

on the lower part...

nice zoom picture of granitude from the campground (at the bridge)

3. West ridge of Pic Nord des Cavales.

A few years back I climbed the beautiful route "Les Diable au Corps" on the south face of Pic Nord des Cavales together with Andreas, we rapped down the route and went on for the Meije South face. I wasn't aware of the nice alpine westridge of that same summit. Accidentally a friend of Jeroen mentioned that they climbed the westridge. We had two days left and on friday bad weather would move in. So this was a perfect goal.

Once more, we had a beautiful bivak spot, this time below the Chatelleret hut between some big boulders. Next morning we walked up for 2 hours to the start of the westridge. The first pitch until the first ressaut we moved together on the rope. 4 steep pitches are leading to the top of the first ressaut. Really good rock! The climbing is not too hard and we climbed the whole route with our mountain boots. The second ressaut has three pitches of grade 4, but it is difficult to protect and I can imagine that in rock shoes it feels like grade 4, to us it was pretty demanding, especially pitch 1 and 2. But once again very good rock. After 6 hours we were on top and started our descent the east ridge and south flank. Not always very obvious (3 abseils to the notch in the east ridge) and than another 2 abseils. We took one rack of cams 0.2 to 3, 50m single rope and a 50m rap line. 25m abseils are also possible but we were happy to be a bit quicker with the rap line. In the descent we needed crampons on the snowfield (we took no ice axe with us), Best thing is to ask at the hut about conditions or in La Berarde at the post des secours.

good topo info on camptocamp https://www.camptocamp.org/routes/54644/fr/pic-n-des-cavales-arete-wsw