UKC

Anyone's got any info (i.e. topos, access, etc.)of dry spa/cragx in La Fayet? Can't find any anywhere.
Thanks

In reply to Mr Lopez:

There's a topo hanging up at the crag, at least there was in March.

Think it's also included in the new cascades guide - the ones with the orange covers, can't remember which volume though, sorry.

To get to the crag: Park up at the spa place, take the path on the left of the building then follow the yellow tags down to the crag.

The routes are meant to be climbed using tools so take rock shoes or just wear trainers (works ok).

In reply to Andy Hobson: Is it Ok to climb with crampons? I was thinking on heading there on rainy days.
Thanks

In reply to Mr Lopez:


It'd be difficult and probably quite bad for the rock, there are a lot of slopey footholds and the rock is a bit friable. The axe placements are mostly drilled pockets (painted green so you can see them more easily!) and the occasional flake (or bolt on hold!!).

If you're after a more pure DT/mixed venue then 'The Zoo' down the Valley may be better. Haven't been myself but it looked pretty funky in the guide - hanging logs and things and you can use your crampons there. Routes seem to start around M7 and again, it's in one of the new orange guides.

In reply to Andy Hobson: Is that the one in Le Sanglier?

In reply to Mr Lopez:

Maybe, I don't know exactly where it is. Down from Le Fayet although I can't remember if it's before or after Sallanches...

In reply to Andy Hobson: Cool. Thanks man

In reply to Mr Lopez:

Three photos from La Fayet (it is an interesting place when it is bad weather):

http://album.spinphys.org/fuori/chamdry_01.jpg
http://album.spinphys.org/fuori/chamdry_02.jpg
http://album.spinphys.org/fuori/chamdry_03.jpg

We saw people also climbing with crampons but most use rockshoes as I understand it is a crag just for training. Even the grades are not given in M rather in French(Dry) and the topos are found in the orange guidebook (as mentioned above). There are both chipped and natural lines to do from what we saw and tried.

In reply to chrtur: Cheers, it looks perfect for passing the monsoon.
I guess I'll do Luky Dip with the routes, as the guides here are prohibitely expensive. Hopefully they are still hanging at the crag.

In reply to Mr Lopez:
Info for dry spa and the Zoo in the new guides for Ice climbing around Cham. Dry spa has a topo there but easiest route is sprayed green. Zoo is pretty full on unless you have BIG arms you also really need a car to get there.
Dry Spa is meant to be a rock boot venue but some folk do crampon up.
Both areas are good fun and both saty dry in rain
Hope this helps
KC

In reply to Mr Lopez: Malcolm here. I'm the Mountain Hardwear guy. I should have sent somthing through via Cynthia. However if that failed here's what you need to know. The dry spa isn't worth wasting a second over. However the zoo is a great place - although harder to find. Le Sanglier is very good climbing but much harder to find. However if you post back I can tell you the routes, the grades and the directions. Soon I'll have a site up that will make all of this totally clear, but for now it's just words.

In reply to Mr Lopez: Thanks for the replies. Made it to Dry Spa and found the climbing to be very fun. Not sure how the grades are, as we did routes without a topo, but didn't think there was much difference between 4 adjacent routes we climbed. Maybe we were lucky?
Seen the guides and though i found the info and topos for the Zoo, didn't find anything on Dry Spa. Not that we took our time to look through, as we were checking them in the Alpine Bookstore. Shameful!

Malcolm, i e-mailed you before i've seen this post. Thanks for the interest.

In a different note. Does anyone know about the Parmelan caves? It seems even more difficult to find info, maybe people is just being secretive. Managed to get the general location, but still no idea where the access shafts are.

Thanks a lot