Epic alpine experience with a guide very late in the season, but we randomly nailed the weather and had a very memorable day. Huge pack with 2 sets of mountain boots made the cruxes touch and go. Climbed some of the shaded (frigid) pitches in gloves.
8 hrs day First pitch technical granite smears on crystal hard - pulled on draw other pitch have everything from stem to finger locks to commit if laybacks - 6B+ has a smear crux on crystals into strenuouslayback through an overhang great route 👍🏼 8 pitch repel then walk out to middle station
Classic mountaineering style, relatively easy terrain and need to move together to be efficient. Last pitch definitely doesn't feel like 5c (underrated in my opinion)
Epic adventure. Got a bit lost on the way but still got to the top in the end. Pitches 1-6 were on track, then went the wrong way and did 3 random pitches. Ended up on Guy-Anne and did the last 3 pitches of this route to reach the summit. The on-route climbing was amazing, the off route climbing wasn’t horrible either, but scary climbing into the unknown haha.
Absolutely incredible climbing, route finding was easy using the guidebook. Didn’t do the last 2 pitches due to fatigue. 1 - did the crack variant start instead of the slab. Really cool, at my trad limit, sat on gear a few times. 2 - sick laybackflake. 3 - nice pitch. 4 - airy and scary pitch, pulled on gear at the rooflet.
Onsighted all but the last pitch when I slipped. Started on the lower bonus 5.9 pitch due to low snow/ice conditions. Did optional 5c variation along with the end of the 6b on roughly pitch 10 rather than the 5b pitch.
Second try in a couple of days. With Lisa. Led all pitches and got up to around pitch 10 when it started to rain. We bailed, maybe a bit early because it ceased when we got down after rappelling. Rappelled to R of route.
Enjoying being in the same rope as Mr Holmgren again. Not as fast as we thought so cut it short to be sure to catch last teleferique down to Cham. Rappelled the climb line which was bad idea, rope got stuck. Greatfun though.
First climb for season, much harder than expected. A streneous climb. Completed it with pulling on some gear .
My old Piola topo described many pitches as 5+ and one 6a+, modern topo refer to these as 6a and 6c. Tend to agree with more recent gradings.
Hardest & most committing climb I’ve done yet, glad we managed. Climbed in 10 pitches total - Pitch 1 6a(?) 25m featuring a tricky hand jam into a corner, Pitch 2 5b 30m good climbing, Pitch 3+4 5b 30m good climbing (can be joined into single pitch, multiple belay stations made it slightly confusing), Pitch 5 6c / 6a A0 25m roof pitch followed by good holds, can be aided with fixed gear, Pitch 6 5b 15m awkward corner pitch (have to run out a bit) into easy terrain, belay station on most right, Pitch 7 6b(?) 20m hard corner crack pitch which eases up later, Pitch 8 6b(?) 25m features a very thin crack on left and goodfist-size crack on right which opens up into offwidth size, important to bring the right sizes for this pitch which varies from the other pitches, Pitch 9 6a+(?) 20m had to scramble a bit to find the right belay ledge, ends with some good hand jams, Pitch 10 6b+ / 6a A0 10m the wonderful summit pitch, followed by ~30m abseil into Midi station terrace. Overall - need to bring a wider range of pros & climb in late summer or start earlier, gets shaded & chilly very fast. Some loose rocks.
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My old Piola topo described many pitches as 5+ and one 6a+, modern topo refer to these as 6a and 6c. Tend to agree with more recent gradings.
