The weather forecast wasn't really stable, but in the end we climbed a lot of pitches, mostly granite and some on lime stone.
Sunday had a rainy start and we decided to go to one of the sport climbing cracks in the Val Durance. We climbed some nice routes in Les Traverse et la Vignette. Steep lime stone routes, well bolted. We did some nice attempts in "Los Bonobos", 7a, but to hard to climb it the first day.
Next day we walked to sector Palavar in Ailefroide. There are some nice routes above the white roof. 25 minutes walking and we were at the start fo J'irai percer sur vos tombes, TD, 350m, 6b+, 6a oblig.
The routes starts with a long slab, 6a. The second pitch is a steep 6b+ diedre/roof. Really cool and well bolted. The route went further up to finish on the ridge of "Palavar les flots". You can either finish that route or start a diagonal abseil to the bottom.
Pitch 1: slab climbing as it goes... (6a)
Pitch 2: 6b+, cool!!!!
Pitch 5 with nice structures and a lot of friction (6a+)
Pitch 8: difficult slab climbing (6b)
On tuesday we went to the sector Plan des Durs, it's 25 minutes walk towards the Sele hut and than 10 minutes up. "Nocturne"It is a more classic route: belays are bolted and there are also bolts in between but you definitely have to place protection for yourself. There are some traverses in the route where you should not fall... and the abseiling was an interesting experience as well. Two times we had troubles with getting down our ropes...It is rated 6a in the Cambon guide, the German topo guides rate it 6a+ and because of the risks of making grounders they recommend a climbing level of 6b. We took a full rack of cams with us. Anyway, the route was really great, of course you have to be careful, but is was really varied climbing. We enjoyed!
Pitch 1: Peter in La Nocturne, 5c
Pitch 5: airy traverse and then up on a slab...
Pitch 7: nice pillar with lay backing, no bolts, 5c+
Pitch 8: one of the traverses, 6a
looking back on the wall of La Nocturne
On wednesday we climbed the Fissure. The classic route in the valley, climbed in the 40's by Gaston Rebuffat. The belays are bolted, and at the crux sections you find bolts as well. 350m, D, 5b max. Bring a full rack of cams. It was a surprising routes, some slab climbing, sometimes walking in the fissure and numerous cheminees, really dark, but with unexpected good holds... we really enjoyed the climbing.
one of the cheminees in La Fissure
After having had nice pizza we walked up the glacier noir to make a bivak. Next day we would try to climb Aurore Nucleaire on the Pic sans Nom North face.
sunset from the bivouac (Pic sans Nom)
and Barre des Ecrins south face
I underestimated the length of the walk to the start of the route next morning. I expected to be there within 1 or 1,5 hours. But the steep snow/ice cone had some crevasses with doubtful snowbridges, the bergschrund wasn't easy to cross and finally it took as 3 hours to get started. At the same moment thicker clouds came in and after 1 pitch we decided to go down again.
Nice try, great alpine stuff but you should climb there on really good mountain days. We walked back to Ailefroide.
crossing the bergschrund, deep crevasses....
after being back at the parking, we had some pizza left from the day before, it had been 30 degrees, good after workout nutrition...
On our last day we climbed in Le Ponteil, the steep lime stone cliff above St. Crepin. We climbed the 6 pitches of Yakafocon (6b). Really exposed and steep with some cool traverses and steep roofes..... the route is well bolted but in the roof section I was really happy to have 3 friends with me....
pitch 5: airy!!!! (6a+)
