UKC

I'm planning a trip to La Berarde in the Ecrins and am looking for some big classic sport and trad rock climbs.Any suggestions? Been to Ailefoide a few years ago and did some of the classics there like La Snoopy,La Fissure and Pavalar Les Flots. Super. Need something similar in the west up to 5c-ish and VS-ish. Got the Cambon bible and looks great but lots to choose from.

In reply to ozandrew:

Boell route, Aiguille Dibona

In reply to IanMcC:

Agreed, it has to be the Dib.

In reply to ozandrew:

Another vote for the Dibona - Madier route.... or anything up there really. Enjoy.

Dibona definitely.

In reply to ozandrew:

Plenty of good bolted stuff in the valley too although the best is 6a and above.

In reply to ozandrew:

Hi
As well as the dibona which is the highlight of the area (see current thread in the alpine forum) there's lots of bolted routes on the tete de la maye.

Are you camping? If so, The caf chalet in the village does good cheap food (refuge style one size-fits-all dinners) and welcomes drop ins if you let them know you are coming. It's a nice place to stay too.

In reply to ozandrew:
hi, ye dibona definatly a must my own experience on that mountain was adventurous (at the least), a very well known (and protected) route is called "visite obligatoire" (hence the name..), but their are some very good routes just next door to dibona...
this is the hut wich literally sits on the foot of the mountain, if you scroll down your will find some really good things to do

http://www.camptocamp.org/huts/104170/fr/refuge-du-soreiller

tete de la maye is also well known, but honestly, from la berarde their are so many things to do you could probably spend the summer there.

http://www.camptocamp.org/parkings/106909/fr/la-berarde

In reply to ozandrew:

Thanks all for the useful tips. Now back from France and I could recommend the following. First of all, buy the new La Berarde climbing guidebook out by Jean Michael Camon 2013. Covers all rock climbing in La Berarde ( but not Aguille Dibona unfortunately). In La Berarde the VS climber would head to Tete De La Mate and look at something up to 5c. Du 5 a tire-larigot, le Gay Pied and Pujolidal, all fantastic outings although we only did the first... All 10 to 15 pitch climbs. We warmed up first on Grandee Rochaille. Both crags are 30min walk from campite. After a few days in La Berarde head for Aguille Dibona... as sagely advised by several other UKC readers. The obvious routes for the VS climer is the south face classique combination.goes by several names in different guides but essentially the madier-berthet-boell-stoffer linkup. About 5b max but pay attention to route finding. Ability to do 6a sport will keep you out of trouble but we found, again, that 6a sport in France is a lot more demanding than 6a in a uk rock gym. We did the first 5 pitches of Obligataire Visitaire the next day, which is great but pretty out there. Bolted but sparingly in some p!aces so take some gear to fill in the gaps. The Boell route is easier if you can stay on route. Looked ok to us ( as it criss crossed the our combo route) but then we had pefect weather. camptocamp.org has some topos. Be armed with guides and topos before hand. There is a useful book '6a Max in Dalphines'.. Or something like that. Thanks again for the advice.