UKC

Aiguille Dibona

Looking for guide book recommendations for the Aiguille Dibona area, also any crag recommendations within a couple hours drive of there would also be recommended...planning spring or late summer trip so maybe any weather advice would also be good!

Many thanks,
Luke

In reply to Birks:

I did visite obligatore last year which was excellent at around f6. the classic route looked very busy which rather put me off (mainly with incompetent brits im sorry to say). top tip in late summer its super easy to get off the back and walk down in spring I guess it's best to ab or carry crampons
Otherwise the valley is full of excellent bolted granite, guidebooks can easily be bought locally.

In reply to Birks:


Hi Luke

Ailefroide is about a 2 to 3 hour drive away from the Dibona and this is where my mates and I based ourselves before driving around for the Dibona itself. Ailefroide is an amazing place to stay with a very relaxed campsite, a great village and superlative climbing with a gazillion crags to suit all!
The mighty Aiguille Dibona is a beautiful mountain and although it has an easy PD route to the summit, with a couple of pitches of Diff, I've always thought it rather a long way to walk and an unsatisfactory way to get to the summit. Far better are any number of routes on the glorious, golden granite of the South Face. I guess the 3 classics are probably Visite Obligatoire, Voie Madier and the Face Sud Classique aka Voie Berthet/Boell/Stofer and any of them would provide a superb day out. If interested here is a short vid showing the area, the superb Soreiller Hut and a day out on the Face Sud Classique:

youtube.com/watch?v=ygToEMgjMYU&

Hope this helps!

Dave

In reply to BALD EAGLE:

I probably should have also said I was staying in la berande when I did it which is like ailefroid but alot quieter and closer. Ailefroid is a bit of a slog imho to the dibona but is an amazing place with stacks to do, I dont think I left the valley for two weeks!

In reply to Birks:

Yep, Visite Obligatoire (TD+) is mindblowingly good. There's a good topo/description in Arnaud Petit's 'Parois de Legende' guidebook. Also covered in the Oisans Ouest guide, though the quality of the topos in that are quite atrocious, and it's all in French. Voie des Savoyards (TD+) is also quality.

Can't offer much more than that - we did Pain Grille (TD-) on the Tete de la Maye which was good. There's meant to be some cool climbing on the Tete de Rouget (e.g. Directe 1976), but never got round to it.

In reply to Birks:
Promontoire ridge, or full traverse of la meije is good. Avoid, tete de la gondolier, as it was a loose death ridge.

In reply to Birks:

I think it's covered in one of the Swiss Plaisir guidebooks (unexpectedly!) Either Plaisir West or Plaisir Selection, can't remember which. I would check, but my European guidebooks are on a different continent...

In reply to Birks:

Thanks for the advice everyone!

Am I right in thinking that the Voie Madier is full trad (maybe bolted belays?) and hard pitches go at E1 but majority at VS range

and

Visite Obligatoire is fully bolted at F6B territory?

Many thanks,
Luke

In reply to cat22:

It's in Plaisir Selection - such a great guide book!

In reply to Birks:
As everyone has said, Visite is superb: the most fun I've had on bolts in the Alps. I recall there being one short bit of 6b (P5), maybe 6a+ on the slab high up and a lot of sustained 6a. However, I'd recommend having a grade in hand, as there are some big run outs, particularly early on!

Like almost everything on this magnificent mountain, the Madier is also excellent. As you say, mostly VS apart from one pitch: the crux fissure, for which E1 is probably fair. When we did it, there was a bolt or two on the fissure and the odd peg elsewhere (in addition to some belays), but you certainly need an alpine trad rack.

Voie des Savoyards is also a very fine route. I still kick myself every so often for falling off the last move of the crux traverse high up. It's great climbing, but it's never 6a! If I had the chance to do it again, I reckon I'd try to talk the second into carrying both sacks!

In reply to Birks:

Forgot to say: if you want to stay up at the beautifully situated Soreiller hut for an extra day or two, there are also some interesting bolted climbs to the left of the main routes on the Dibona. We used the definitive guide, Oisans Nouveau, Oisans Sauvage (Livre Ouest) by Jean Michel Gambon (2002). There's been a new edition to the volume for the Ailefroide side, but I don't know if that's the case for this companion volume.

In reply to Birks:

Another recommendation for the Madier. I don't remember any pitch of E1 though (but it was a long time ago). Several of the routes that top out get very close together near the top, so although the Madier is trad. you're not far from a bolted alternative for the top few pitches as I remember. From my perspective this detracted from the route - but it's not "my" country of course. When in Rome...................

Martin