Valais West > Dalle de l'Amone >
 
Amone Slab*** E1 5b

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[The Amone Slab, 3 kb]450m. This is not a sports route but an alpine one - heed the warning. It can be serious and turns into Omaha beach on D-Day (re stone fall) if it rains. In UK technical terms (it is bolted but very sportingly in places approx between 12-20ft spacing). It starts at about UK 4b, rapidly heads up to 5a then as you hit the white streaks it's about 5b/5c slab work with big fall potential due to very well spaced bolts. It 'can' also become wet in the afternoon as snow well above somewhere starts to melt and filter down. This can be very disconcerting as you look up the slab in the heat of later afternoon to see water filtering down ... one to never get caught on if it looks like rain. It's a fantastic Alpine route with a massive serious slab which tests your technique/head/bottle to some degree. Don't try and avoid the hardest sections... once you loose the bolt line your in trouble ... it doesn't take any gear ... you may get 2 bits in over approx 300m. Many people have had issues with the decent when wet. ROUGH GUIDE OF ROUTE: >p1: 4a, slab ... >p2: 5a, ... Slab ... >p3: 5b, ... Slab! The slab is to the ball! >p4: 5b, a small passage on the left slab (really?) >p5: 5c, in ... ok, we understood! >p6: 6a, a step towards the end. >p7: 6a, the first 3 nails are pretty hot. Tighten the buttocks and trust your feet! >p8: 5c, climbing becomes a bit more varied. >p9: 5c, we begin to ascend the chute itself. >p10: 5b >p11: 5b, canyoning atmosphere >p12: 5b, a wall and a beautiful pillar to finish off!

Ticklists: Rebuffat's 100 Finest Routes in the Mont Blanc Massif.

Photo: The Amone Slab © james sut
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PUBLIC LOGBOOKS
This climb is in 33 logbooks, and on 1 wishlist.

Amazing route. Having never climbed abpve VS I was surprised by the grades listed on here. If you ignore the fall potential the climbing is not above a VS/HS standard and even allowing for the 'seriousness' of the climbing I cannot comprehend how it can be above a HVS (it is in old guide books)as: a) we never noticed a crux and had been falling of F6a the day before b) we finnished in the rain c) it's a shallow slab... . As an asside it is very hollow sounding and may be hiding large quantities of Nazi gold....
Sam Husband - AltLd O/S - 23/Aug/12 with Ed

Definitely NOT an E1 or a 5b, found the route quite easy though great fun. Probably warrants a higher grade as it is such a serious undertaking. Took us 5hrs to complete and quite a horrible down climb. Great great fun though
Edward Hastrop - AltLd O/S - 23/Aug/12 with Sam Husband

Hidden - AltLd O/S - 17/Aug/12

Hidden - AltLd O/S - 17/Aug/12

Climbed first six pitches before abbing off due to weather closing in. Excellent climb.
Jim Brownlow - AltLd O/S - 13/Aug/12 with Nigel Edley, Iain Mount

Don't believe the scaremongering, plenty of bolts and straightforward climbing. Epic route!
tombushell - AltLd O/S - Aug/12 with John Bushell, Sam Husband, Ed Hastrop

Hidden - 2012

Hidden - AltLd O/S - 07/Sep/11

Hidden - AltLd - 06/Sep/11

Brilliant climbing on small holds. Lead pitches 1,2, 9, and 11. It is run out but the friction was amazing never felt I was likely to peel off. decent is very steep and loose, but is protected by a chain handrail. Take your trainers.
The Mountain Goat - AltLd O/S - 17/Aug/11 with Dom Sellers

A great climb, run out enough to make you think (10m ish between bolts) but never too much of a horror. Avoid if poor afternoon forecast as loads of big stones at the top ready to come down.
Somerset swede basher - AltLd O/S - 17/Aug/11 with Jon Miles

Hidden - AltLd O/S - Aug/11

claregardiner - AltLd - 14/Sep/10

Owain Llewelyn - Lead - 06/Aug/10 with Dad

run out but not too bad
John Roberts (JR) - AltLd O/S - 24/Aug/09 with guy wilson

Didn't start till mid-afternoon. Earlier that day abandoned plans for route on Pyramide du Tacul as it was overcrowded, walked across Vallee Blanche, caught Helbronner back to Midi, came back down to campsite in Argentiere and drove round to Switzerland! Hot day and thought we'd fry on such an exposed piece of rock, but actually came into shade quite quickly. Superb bold climbing with some lovely technical slab work. Descent relatively straightforward now. Quite a long day!
Andy Clarke - AltLd O/S - 05/Aug/09 with Rob

Hidden - 25/Aug/08

The most run out climb I've ever done! Horribly placed bolts all around 10m+ apart and appearing generally AFTER the crux moves. French 6a in several spots. A shame abut the pro, since the climb itself was quite fun and highly recommended... as a follower!
Brian Birtle - AltLd RP - 15/Jul/08

Very serious with big fall potential. Not one to push the grade on.
Tobias at Home - AltLd dog - 15/Jul/08

shaun walby - AltLd - Jul/08 with Kev Groome

An excellent adventure. Didn't take a trad rack and had trouble finding bolts, sometimes only a single bolt found in 40m or so. On pitch two a falling rock fell onto my leg resulting in a great deal of blood oozing from me. We decided to continue on, using a tourniquet to stop the blood squirting onto the rock everytime I lifted my leg. Made good time and enjoyed the waterfall that slowly but surely makes things more and more interesting. An adventure for sure, coming back to the car with dark black dried blood covered jeans made for quite a story with the rest of the people we were climbing with.
Silum - Aug/06 with Jamie Hill

Hidden - Sep/04

Hidden - AltLd O/S - 2003

Hidden - Lead O/S - 2000

Brian Rodgers - AltLd O/S - 01/Jul/94 with Conor Boyd

alkira - 04/Aug/93 with bruce goodlad, harvey mullen

Hidden - Jul/89

mark-abz - AltLd - Aug/88 with Andy W

Scary, big run outs, descent was teriffying ..oh to still be young and fit!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tony Kartawick - Lead O/S - Aug/86 with Jan Kartawick

Hammy - AltLd - 22/Jul/85 with Colin Struthers, Jenny le Merle

Bad weather in the mountains took us here to find a mini glacier at the bottom and a waterfall down the line of the route. We climbed a line right of the normal route - but as this was totally unprotected we effectively soloed roped together. Only after several death-defying rope lengths did we make it back to the true line for a few wet belays whilst climbing up the technically more difficult left side of the route. Went too high and missed the path down. Back to the car at 11pm in the dark to guzzle our only available sustenance for the whole day - a jar of pickled cabbage vinegar! Very memorable day.
KRB - AltLd O/S - 19/Jul/80 with Mike Bridges

Back then no bolts or gear. Just belay rings/bolts/pegs. No holds either. Easy angle. Desparate descent to r. Rope was too short between stances on one pitch so we had to 'move together' and not just the bowels either.
jmr - AltLd - Jul/77 with An unknown 16-year old

Pleasant climb, then protected by a few in situ pegs, the rest bt small wires
Lesdavmor - 10/Aug/76 with Grace Morris, Steve & Bronwen Blake

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Bradders
Voting
Total votes cast 38
hard E20 of 10
E20 of 10
easy E22 of 10
hard E13 of 10
E11 of 10
easy E11 of 10
hard HVS3 of 10
HVS0 of 10
easy HVS0 of 10
hard 5c0 of 11
5c0 of 11
easy 5c0 of 11
hard 5b5 of 11
5b2 of 11
easy 5b1 of 11
hard 5a3 of 11
5a0 of 11
easy 5a0 of 11
3 Stars13 of 17
2 Stars4 of 17
1 Star0 of 17
0 Stars0 of 17
Bag of .....0 of 17
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Style of ascent

Lead3 of 33 (9.1%)
Alt Leads23 of 33 (69.7%)
Unknown7 of 33 (21.2%)

'Climbed'14 of 33 (42.4%)
clean O/S17 of 33 (51.5%)
clean RP1 of 33 (3.0%)
dogged1 of 33 (3.0%)