UKC

I'm around Briancon and the upper Durance river valley for the next few days. Looking for VF routes that offer lots of interesting "free" climbing moves with hands + feet directly on the rock (rather than grasping or stepping on the fixed steel hardware or cable).

Got lucky for that in selecting then climbing one route so far. An experienced local climber told me that VF Croix de Toulouse was good for hands + feet directly on rock, but that VF Aiguillette de Lauzet had a much lower percentage.

Do you have some hints about those or other routes in this area (or perhaps in nearby Italy?)

Thanks,

Ken

VF Vigneaux -- Sharon and I climbed the "la Balme" route a couple of days ago. It had lots of fun moves with hands and feet directly on rock, as well as big views across the valley and up to high peaks of the Ecrins / Pelvoux massif, and a pleasant atmosphere. On our list of worth doing again.

There are two routes which share the same starting section, "le Colombe" (rated AD Assez Difficile) and "la Balme" (rated D Difficile). Both routes face south, so start early if it's a hot day. Cables and anchors in good condition, rock mostly sound.

Location? Note that several popular websites and apps are way wrong about the location of the parking and bottom start of VF les Vias des Vigneaux. So first we were misled into driving up a narrow forest road with no turnarounds for a long ways even after we recognized we were in the wrong place. After some questioning and more searching, we found that the main parking for _both_ the "le Colombier" and "la Balme" routes is along the north side of the D4 road (about 6-7 km South and then West from the N94 highway) -- immediately beside the _sign_ announcing entry into the territory of les Vigneaux - (which is about 200 meters East from the side road turning off right into the center of the village of les Vigneaux).

* Parking - GPS latitude longitude approx (N44.8248 E6.5472).
. [ see on map: https://goo.gl/maps/TCJax ] .

* Bottom start - GPS lat long approx (N44.8263 E6.5483)

* Top of "la Balme" route approx (N44.8274 E6.5481)

Climbing quality: We did four distinct sections ...
1) diagonal ramp shared by both routes. Most could be done "free" without putting hands or feet on the fixed hardware, at Euro grade around 3. Of course steel handholds and footholds available for those who want (or need) to use them.

2) La Balme route first section. Rock has lots of nice horizontals. All but one move could be climbed "free" with hands and feet directly on the rock (using the cable only for protection) at a Euro difficulty grade around 5b. Fairly fun climbing, but not as thoughtful as I might wish, because so many of the holds were horizontal.

3) Steep chimney / dihedral with overhanging crux section near bottom. I mostly used the fixed hardware for hands and feet, but still the moves seemed interesting enough (and strenuous).

4) Less-than-vertical slabs to the top. I guess free climbing difficulty around Euro 3.

Descent from VF Vigneaux:
Several possibilities.
We started down by hiking NNW from the top of the "la Balme" route. In about 50 meters we hit a dirt road (for logging?). We followed this down NW for about 1 km and reached a parking area beside a small pillar with bolts and top anchors for climbing. Seemed like the road was legally drivable below this point - GPS lat long approx (N44.8343 E6.5391).

Sharon was tired so she went slower and then stopped, while I went on faster. And discovered that the obvious reasonably-drivable roads do _not_ lead back to the VF Parking. Instead they come down on the west side of the village. So after phoning Sharon, I had to do some extra walking back east. Then I drove up and met Sharon, so she did not have to get any more impact on ankles and knees hiking down.

I'm thinking now that if I had turned east off the dirt road higher up onto some other trail (or not-reasonably-drivable road), I might have gotten back to the VF Parking more directly - (next time I'll have a GPS track for that). Or perhaps there was some steep hiking-trail descent the whole way from the top, but we didn't see any explicit signs for that, so we didn't try.

Anyway a reasonable descent (compared with many other VF routes I've done).

Ken

VF Croix de Toulouse:
I found another route (overlooking the Briancon "old city" section) with lots of free climbing moves, thanks to recommendation by an experienced local climber. About +250 vertical meters of climbing in the range of Euro 3-4-5 ratings, with lots of fun moves on mostly sound limestone, usually with lots of positive holds.

Rock faces South, with big views over the city of Briancon and the Durance valley and surrounding mountains. Good trail for the approach, and easy trail and dirt road for descent.

Climbing:
One short sequence at difficulty Euro 5c, three others around 5b (if make all the moves "free" with hands and feet directly on the rock, using the steel fixtures and cable only for protection, not aid). Some interesting thoughtful moves.

Lots of steel rungs (stemples?) on the route. In the difficult sections, I often clipped one of the rungs with a karabiner on a third not-so-elastic nylon leash - for protection against falling so far when climbing well above the previous anchor for the steel cable. Nice design that the rungs were placed so they generally did not obstruct my use of the rock holds for climbing. Often the rungs would be on one side of the cable on a section of smooth rock, while I could climb more featured hold-rich on the other side of the cable.

Especially in the more difficult sections, the rock was not very polished, because most of the users would step on the steel rungs.

Statistics:
Total vertical about +600 meters from the lower main parking, or +575m from the small upper parking.
Total vertical cable-protected about +280m, in three sections (225m, 25m, 30m) separated by hiking -- but the upper section was mostly easy scrambling, so I'd call it +250m of actual climbing.

Locations - GPS:
Parking main = GPS latitude longitude approx (N44.9013 E6.6445)
. . . (by Champ de Mars, above Vauban, old city section of Briancon)

Parking upper = (N44.9038 E6.6466) . . . see on Map - [ https://goo.gl/maps/nltCC ]
. . . (accessible by steep narrow asphalt road, Chemin des Salettes,
. . . . which starts between two restaurants).

Bottom start of first cable section = (N44.9073 E6.6476)
Top junction of climbing route with descent trail = (N44.9107 E6.6466)

Approach:
From main lower parking, NE up steep narrow asphalt road (Chemin des Salettes) about 300m to upper parking. Turn Right on dirt road, ENE about 80m, then sharp Left onto another dirt road. Not more than 50m, take narrow hiking trail up right from road, and follow this a long ways (about 1 km with +225m vertical uphill) through several switchbacks up to start of cable.

Descent:
From top of third cable section, scramble up to a viewing platform, then gentler above this roughly N about 40m to a junction of trails in front of a stone building. Turn Right onto descending trail starting ENE for about 0.6 km, then descending generally S with switchbacks until meet a dirt road by an old fort. Down this road West and SW with some switchbacks to the upper Parking.

VF Gorges de la Durance:
We did the Black route at this privately-managed area [ http://roc-aventure.com/en/via-ferrata-and-zip-lines.html ] near l'Argentière-la-Bessée about 15 km south of Briancon.
GPS latitude longitude approx: Parking (N44.8049 E6.5614) - - Entry (N44.8053 E6.5623)
See on map - https://goo.gl/maps/CaubR

* little or No sections with sustained "free" climbing with hands + feet directly on the rock.
* but the use of steel hardware was pretty restrained (by French standards), so often we would have at least one hand or foot on a rock hold (while other hand or foot was on a steel hold) -- so more thoughtful interesting ciimbing.

* variety of interesting climbing situations.

* gorge not as dramatically narrow as some VF routes we've done, but still plenty atmospheric, with moves hanging over the flowing water.

* the Black route is usually rated TD Tres Difficile, while the Red route is usually rated D Difficile. I was glad to have a third (shorter) leash with karabiner for _resting_ on some crux sections of the Black route.

* The Black route is not only more strenuous, but also perhaps three times _longer_ than the Red. Includes a substantial hike to reach a long directly-upward climb (with interesting moves + situations) finishing way up outside the gorge.

* Avoiding the long downhill hike (or climb) back to the start -- is possible because an asphalt road goes close to the high top section of Black route:
GPS lat long approx (N44.8097 E6.5641)
So while Sharon waited with our equipment at a shady spot near the top, I jogged down the roads (with some short ups) to the Parking. Then drove the car back up and retrieved her.

She wants to do this VF again some future year, and (despite the lack of free moves directly on rock) I'll be glad to do it with her.

Ken