I suppose you've seen Clement's topo in Grimper 158H? It has plenty of useful hints in the route descriptions.
has anyone here ever played on hard single pitches at the top of the escalés, 7c-8b? papy onsight, seance tenante, graphique, braves gens... that kind of stuff.
apart expecting nasty fingery cruxes and stiff grades, i have no clue about how they actually climb, and especially about how convenient it is to run redpoint laps and/or to minitrax/toprope them (is a belay seat needed? are some of the lines too steep/traversing for fixed lines or topropes?)
i am considering the gorges for my next holidays (end of april/beginning of may) with a mixed program : relaxed multipitches during the warmest hours, and some redpointing in late afternoon...
Papy on Sight is ultra easy to get on/off, just a 3-move boulder problem near the top.
. I'm presuming from the route list you've given you're interested in the Old Skool routes rather than the newer stuff as if you just fancy testing yourself later on in the day then there's a whole host of harder (tufa style) routes on the other side of the Gorge (Hulk etc.).As suggested, they're thin and techy (and I'd agree that even with that in mind they're stiff) and surprisingly powerful at times. This is a contrast to the other side of the gorge where it's steeper, less techy and grades are probably more in-line with elsewhere in Europe..
What would it be like come June? Myself and a few others are looking to get out there - would temps still be ok? Totally happy to dodge the sun and climb afternoon/evenings etc. Apologies for the thread hijack!
We'd be there for around four weeks probably so would have plenty of wiggle room to get the timings right. Much easier than trying to work a short trip in. I'm usually pretty good in the heat, up to around 25 degrees - and the average temps for Verdon in June come out as 20-22.
In june i'd rather go to céuse!The duc routes can be great at that time of the year.alix punk is a monster classic if you cruise tufa 7a.Same goes for cragging in hulk or galetas I suppose.The escalés will be climbable but uncomfortable in the sun, pleasant in the shade but not good conditions for anything hard.Some routes get the shade earlier than others because they are around some pillar etc...in any case no earlier than 2 pm.
A good Google or Google image search should do it...it isn't in any official topo (Hulk is)
Quote from: ghisino on April 12, 2015, 12:35:43 pmA good Google or Google image search should do it...it isn't in any official topo (Hulk is)It's in the Grimper magazine (Nina Caprez Cover - Verdon Special), which is available in the village. If you drop me a PM I can send a photo of that specific page (although it may take me a while to remember). I'd intended to scan it in so I didn't lose it until I worked out how long that'd take me (unless I can somehow dismantle it and feed it through a copier).FYI it looks as if there are a few 6 ish warmups on the LHS, a few middling 7s on the RHS and then 7b+, 7c, 8a, 8a+, 8b+,8b+, 9a, 9a, 9a up the middle.I'd look into Ramirole if you're happy in the 8s.I'm told this:http://faudou.pagesperso-orange.fr/topo.verdon.1.2013.htmis currently the best guidebook to buy.