[webbo]

this is a spot in the vallee du griffe above sallanche theres two areas of gneiss boulders in a wood lots of shade good landings really pleasant situation theres atopo in the guide book vallee du griffe which gets you to the crag but doesnt have all the problems in it misses out most of the obvious sit starts ive heard theres a new topo to bouldering in chamonix with it in worth a visit if your in the area

[SA Chris]

Fuck me did you text that? Whats wrong with some good old grammar. Sounds good though. I have family with a place in Les Gets, so am gathering info on the area. Tralenta looks good too, near Bonneville.

[webbo]

because it takes me all my time to manage a bouldering pad never mind a key board ive taken months to remeber how to do the''''''@ in my e mail address

[r-man]

Topo here:

http://www.chamonix.net/english/climb/bouldering_medonnet.htm

[r-man]

Meddonet was pretty good. First place we visited on our month of fun, as it was on the way to Ailefroide. Some nice problems, including a great slightly overhanging arete on a detached wall only half a metre thick. Didn't manage to link the sitstart to the top as I was knackered after I'd figured out the moves, but fun nonetheless. Anyone know the name/grade of this problem?

Another great one was an overhanging wall with what looked like loads of arms spread snatching.couldn't touch it though.

It's in the woods so climbable during the day, but it does stay damp for a couple of days if it's rained. Overall a nice little place, maybe 2 days worth of stuff to do if you have a go at everything.

Topo isn't that great as it only has a third of the bouldering marked on it, but it's all quite compact so you don't really need one. There mightbe a guide as I saw some locals with one.

found some pics on't web:



Aha, here's that arete I was talking about:

The move to the top is either a desperate slap, or a fluid pop, depending on how much energy you've got left. But either way, it's brilliant.

[webbo]

the arete is 6a+ from standing in the guide i've got [its the routes guide to the whole valley] i've done it from sitting at the time i felt it was about 7a+.theres a trickey move to get your left hand in the same postion as you start the stand up version.

[r-man]

6a+ and 7a+!  I'm surprised there's that much of a difference. The sit-down certainly felt like somewhere round 7a, give or take a grade, but the stand up felt harder than 6a+. Ah well, good problem, whatever the numbers. Definitely the one to do.

[webbo]

i think that the s/s feels alot harder cos you start on the overhanging side and it feels real akward to get in postion to rock on to slabby side.where as from standing you just rock on to the arete slap for ripple on the slabby side then stand up and reach the top.

[BenF]

Resurrected this thread after starting my own this morning and then being informed that this thread existed. Anyway, here's my tuppence worth... 

Just got back from a month in the Alps and in between climbing big lumps of rock, I checked out Medonnet and a granite venue in the Chamonix valley called les Bossons (yeah its just below the Bossons glacier).

Both are worth checking out if you're in the area and make good altenatives to the usual Col de Montets curcuit.  Medonnet in particular tinkled my bell.  Lovely boulders in lovely cool woodland, even climbable on hot days in August.  Not many really hard problems but luckily the grades are all over the place (mainly utter sandbags) so a 6c can be desperate.  Some great lines though and a useful location out of the higher mountains.  The arete as discussed above by R-man etc is in the Chamonix Bouldering Guide at 6b+ from sitter by the way.  I thought it was amazing and just had to be climbed either from standing or sitting (check me, I flashed it!!  Fuck knows how though).

Les Bossons was again a nice venue in cool woodland.  Plenty of granite boulders but not that many problems of 7a or above.  However, again the grades are total sandbags on the whole.  Unfortunately, the place in my opinion was rather spoiled by chipping/drilling of holds.  Many of the harder problems are simply steep blank walls with drilled stereo pockets or footedges.  There was however a beaut of an 8a+ rampline thing (untouched by drilling or chipping).  Obviously I flashed it.

I've posted a couple of photos in my gallery and the "Quality Bouldering Photos" thread by the way. 

Oh yeah, pretty comprehensive topos for Medonnet Haut, Medonnet Bas, les Bossons, Col de Montets and Pierre D'Orthaz are now contained in a recent Chamonix Bouldering Guide.  I got my copy for about a tenner from the Maison de Presse opposite Snell Sports in Chamonix.  The grades are fuckin' harsh though. 

[webbo]

i remember reading a comment from some alpine bouldering guru re grades.something along the lines of "these are real grades not limp font grades"

[BenF]

i remember reading a comment from some alpine bouldering guru re grades.something along the lines of "these are real grades not limp font grades"

That sounds like the kinda attitude reflected in the grades.  No fuckin' linear dimension to them at all.  I'm not that arsed about whether the grades are truly the same as those elsewhere but they should at least be consistent within an area or venue.  After all the whole idea of a grade is to suggest how hard it is in comparison with other routes/blocs in order to allow the climber to pick suitable challenges.  Some of the grades I saw over the past month seemed just random and as low as possible.  I won't even say what my girlfriend thought of the people who graded some of these problems! 

[SA Chris]

Arse. I should have printed that topo for medonnet when I had the chance, and now it's gone. Anyone have a printout they can scan for me?

Webbo, I have the Vallee du Giffre guidebook, but can see no mention of blocs, only sport routes. Am I missing something??

It's this guide.

[slackline]

Arse. I should have printed that topo for medonnet when I had the chance, and now it's gone. Anyone have a printout they can scan for me?

www.archive.org is your friend (from Feb 2008)

[SA Chris]

Big up yersel' slackers.

[webbo]

Arse. I should have printed that topo for medonnet when I had the chance, and now it's gone. Anyone have a printout they can scan for me?

Webbo, I have the Vallee du Giffre guidebook, but can see no mention of blocs, only sport routes. Am I missing something??

It's this guide.

thats because its in the vallee de arve guide. its also in another guide blocs around chamonix or what ever that is in french.its at home and i'm at work i'll stick the title on later.i got them both in sameons in the bookshop.

[webbo]

to make up for being a fuckwit theres a topo here.
http://www.chamonix.net/english/climb/bouldering-medonnet.htm

[slackline]

to make up for being a fuckwit theres a topo here.
http://www.chamonix.net/english/climb/bouldering-medonnet.htm

 

 (See Chris' and my earlier posts  )

[SA Chris]

Indeed.

Have you been to any of the sport crags in the Giffre Guide webbo?

[galpinos]

Chris, when are you heading out?

I've got the Cham bouldering guide which has Medonnet in. There's 2 areas and a few more problems than what's in the above link.

I can try to dig it out and scan the pages if you want?

[webbo]

Indeed.

Have you been to any of the sport crags in the Giffre Guide webbo?

i don't have the guide but in another life when i owned a bit of string i did venture on to most of them.post up the names and what info you want about them and i will again give you what is probably completly bogus information.
the main problem is most of the crags are sunny so its early/late starts if you don't want to fry.the crags that are least effected by the sun are the one at sixt and the foron.

[SA Chris]

Chris, when are you heading out?

We are away on Saturday. will pm you an address if that's cool?

[SA Chris]

post up the names and what info you want about them and i will again give you what is probably completly bogus information

Sounds good. Noticed the ones at Sixt were N facing when we drove past a few years back. Some punter graded stuff there too.

[galpinos]

Chris, when are you heading out?

We are away on Saturday. will pm you an address if that's cool?

No probs. I'll see what i can sort.

[webbo]

post up the names and what info you want about them and i will again give you what is probably completly bogus information

Sounds good. Noticed the ones at Sixt were N facing when we drove past a few years back. Some punter graded stuff there too.

when you say punter stuff are you meaning the climbs on the middle tier.the ones below 6c cos they ain't up to much on the scale of french lime although they stay dryish in light rain.there is another crag down and right of the main crag with some 6as on it.however this crag used to be about 40 foot high till the guides bulldozed the groung away to double the height and make a nice flat area for their punters.

[SA Chris]

Was think the "Rocher Hubert Ducroz" section. Looks like some pretty long pitches though - do you know if it's mostly equipped for 70m ropes? As we either have a 60m sport or two 50m trads.

[webbo]

where is that in relation to the main crag at sixt.i don't have guide as i always climbed with mates who lived in the valley at the time.

[SA Chris]

It's to the right. We had a look, but it looked a bit crap and polished so we didn't bother.

We got hold of the Arve Guide, and it's not in there either, just says that there is a boudering spot there in the map. Did find some other great crags in that guide though, an amazing one called Frasse, an 80m slab with loads of water runnels on it. Also found som OK shady routes at Les Contamines.

Amusingly, explored the bouldering mentioned near Cluses. There is actually a marked circuit of 150 probs, of which I found about 40, and about a dozen looked worth doing. Judging by leaves and moss it looked like they hadn't been climbed in a while. Will post a pic or two.

[webbo]

i gues there is a new guide out,as my guide has topos for meddonet,bourrinoire and another spot on high up on the left opposite sallanche.it doesn't mention the bouldering near cluses though.
my mate who lives out there pointed a spot out on the cluses/sallanche road as we drove past which i suspect is the place you mean.but i could never remember where it was.there is supposed to be another place near tananges on the road as if you were heading to st joinne(you will have to excuse my spelling of these places)
although my mate knew about these spots and all the other places in both valleys he would only climb at certain places and if i made go somewhere else he would sulk and just witter how crap they were and be generally disintrested.when we went to bourrioire he couldn't leave fast enough this was after it took me ages to persuede him to go and i needed him to show me where it is as its not easy to find.i think this made me feel it wasn't very good which i suspect isn't the case.

[SA Chris]

I reckon since the chamonix valley bouldering guide came out they seperated out the bouldering areas from the cragging guide, as it is pretty crammed as it is, and you wouldn't want to have to carry it up a route. be intrigued to know where the stuff near Taninges is, as Taniniges is pretty close to the Pont de Gets. I also went for a walk up the valley towards Praz de Lys from the Pont des Gets at the switchback by the bridge, and saw a couple of boulders that could be OK if the carpet of moss was removed.

[webbo]

its somewhere just on the edge of town on the road heading towards st jeoire.i know this is bit vague but in my defence it was some years ago it was pointed out.i imagine it will a smaller version of the place you went to near cluses.the other place in my guide is called blocs de plaine joux which looks a bit of pain to drive to so i've never bothered and theres only 30 problems.

[SA Chris]

The plaine joux road looks like it might be fun on a roadbike though. Will have to get some pages off you for the next time we visit.

[SA Chris]

Have just got film back from printers ()

Some pics of boulders near cluses if anyone is interested.

A couple of overgrown blocks, the prob in the trees to the left acually looked OK.



A cool looking groovy roof, probably the nicest looking boulder there


proof that there is / was a circuit there at some point. Fuck knows where the other 131 are though


For all I know, out of summer it may be a hotbed of activity. Would be surprised though.

[webbo]

i presume this place is on the left as you head from cluses towards magland at the bottom of those big walls on the N 205.

[webbo]

The plaine joux road looks like it might be fun on a roadbike though. Will have to get some pages off you for the next time we visit.

did a ride last year from morillon to cham trying to avoid the main road. when this was suggested as a ride i thought it would be shit as i thought it would be really busy and we'd be on the main valley road to cham loads of the time.but there is a road that goes from side to side along the valley and its not a bad ride.avoided cluses by going up to les carroz then dropping back down into the valley,we stopped for coffee and cakes where the road heads up to plaine joux. it did look steep, there was one or two folk heading up to it they all seemed to have triple chain sets on tho.from there the road goes over the motorway to les houches.it looks nothing on the map but i was bending my cranks on 39 x 27.then it all down hill to cham,

[SA Chris]

i presume this place is on the left as you head from cluses towards magland at the bottom of those big walls on the N 205.

Your presumption is correct. You park by the archery club and walk back towards Cluses. The boulders all look to have detatched from said big walls.