Quote from: jwi on June 11, 2020, 10:33:06 pmI keep advising people to go in June, as the sun sets very late and a lot of good sectors are south-east facing and some good sectors are almost east facing. Rap in about 2pm, when most people are topping out. Be at the base at 3pm. Top out 8pm with an hour of twilight to spare.We've had some great days using this strategy, notably on Gwendal and Pinchenibule. What I can't work out is when is best for things that get the sun most of the day (La fête des nerfs)? I don't do well climbing in the sun.
I keep advising people to go in June, as the sun sets very late and a lot of good sectors are south-east facing and some good sectors are almost east facing. Rap in about 2pm, when most people are topping out. Be at the base at 3pm. Top out 8pm with an hour of twilight to spare.
For La Fête des Nerfs and Via Mathis an overcast day in spring or in the fall would be the best bet. For a short trip you have to be lucky... We were lucky last spring in May and had two cold overcast days in a week!
In Swedish but google translate offers an entertaining version for Anglophones (apparently you “celebrate” your way down Luna Bong to the Terrasse Médiane. That’s certainly one way of putting it!). Unfortunately the last section of top tips for Verdon climbing was too much for the poor computer and was a bit harder to follow. I couldn’t quite work out how jwi managed to drop his haulbag...
Quote from: duncan on June 28, 2020, 10:13:09 pm In Swedish but google translate offers an entertaining version for Anglophones (apparently you “celebrate” your way down Luna Bong to the Terrasse Médiane. That’s certainly one way of putting it!). Unfortunately the last section of top tips for Verdon climbing was too much for the poor computer and was a bit harder to follow. I couldn’t quite work out how jwi managed to drop his haulbag...My God, google translate english > swedish is really surprisingly bad! (I dropped the haulbag because I was an idiot, is there any other way?)Since I got help from this forum, I should probably post a short TR on Sous la griffe de Lucifer, 450m ED-, 6c+>6b+, 14 pitchesAre you in Céüse and bored with hiking for an hour to go and climb the same 15m over and over again? Bring down nine draws, two shoulder length slings and something for belays, drive 50 min from the campground to Dévoluy and climb something completely different. You get a Parois de Legende tick as well! Unusually sustained and steep face climbing for 13 pitches. No cracks or anything that scratches the back of the hand. In the shade until around 2.30pm.The wall. Lucifer climbs just to the right of the big dihedral that splits the main wall in two. (There are 3 PdL-ticks on the wall, which is partly explained by the fact that Bodet and Petit used to live 45 min away).The approach is mercifully short (20 min or so) and easy to find. The route starts at the memorial plaque to Bruno M.“You who pass by, remember Bruno Martel and his love for The Gillards. To our dad, with eternal love”The first pitch has some average rock but not many bolts so it pays to be careful. Overall the easier pitches still has some tricky route finding and very few bolts, so they take quite a bit longer than you would think to climb.Here's J. on the 6th pitchand near the top of the amazing 11th pitch with the banded silica intrusions that gives plenty of small crimpers. Very cool to climb on!Overall, we found the climbing very good starting on pitch 4 all the way to the end of the hard part in the middle of pitch 12. Compared to the topo in PdL we found P9 to be the hardest and P11 to be slightly easier (but more demanding mentally perhaps), otherwise we found the grading in PdL to be closer to our opinion than the grades given in the description on camp to camp.The descent was easy to find (a single footpath from the top of the route all the way down to the small village of Jouves) and makes for a very pleasant hike on alpine prairies.
Great stuff. Keep them coming jwi, inspiration material.
Great stuff again jwi.
TBH alpine limestone has always filled me with dread vs granite. I think if we were to consider it there are plenty of lower stress / easier access routes around Europe that we ought to try first!
Il giochi de prestigio is Italian for “a game of prestige”, i.e. stage magic. (In English as well has French prestige has lost its original sense of ‘conjuring tricks’, if I am not mistaken).
I have compiled a list of Twenty-five routes well worth doing in the Verdon, and some practical advice on gear/raps etc, might be of interest in this context?
Inclusion criteria are great climbs of ~8 pitches or longer with minimal death potential. I'm not keen on freezing in a storm or being hit by lumps of rock or ice and crevassed approaches void my BMC insurance (plug for sponsors). BHAGs could stretch as far as E6 trad. and 7b-ish sport. Routes should be mostly free, a little sneaky cheating is acceptable.