Rockfax Description
III, 750m. An incredible route up a beautiful feature, this is a tough day out with minimal easy terrain. There is a bolted abseil descent and none of the pitches are truly hard (provided you can climb 6b granite), so the route is a good first step into longer technical routes as it lacks the commitment of other big lines. The route finding is very intuitive and each pitch generally follows the most obvious feature you can see from the belay. Most of the belays are visible from below so if you find yourself unable to see the next belay, and you are not on the crest of the huge pillar that the route follows, you are probably off line.
The line begins at the foot of a ramp system, 30m below and right of a roof, in a small glacier bay left of the Tour Rouge.
1) 4c, 2) 6a. From the top of pitch 2, cross a series of easy ledges rightwards to reach the foot of pitch 3. Make sure you go far enough right, and don't climb straight up from the first bolted belay you get to - there are other minor lines around here.
3) 5c, 4) 6a+, 5) 5b+, 6) 6a. After pitch 6, traverse across the large broken gully on the right. The traverse is roughly 80m and only 4c/5a, provided you traverse level with the last belay and then scramble up to the bottom of pitch 7 rather than going up diagonally between pitch 6 and 7.
7) 5c, 8) 5c, 9) 5b, 10) 6a. On this pitch you step left across a small gully, which makes a good landmark.
11) 6a, 12) 5c, 13) 5c, 14) 5b, 15) 5b, 16) 5c, 17) 5b, 18) 6a, 19) 6a. This pitch features an extraordinary move from the top of a pillar, across a gap and onto a wall. There is a bolt protecting the move but you need flexible hips to span the gap!
20) 5c, 21) 5c, 22) 6a, 23) 5c, 24) 6a+, 25) 6b. Climb the left-hand corner above the belay. A tough pitch to finish.
Descent - Abseil down the route. Having abseiled over the small gully on pitch 10, go straight down to 2 abseil anchors which are off line. These two anchors lead you directly down to the top of pitch 6 and allow you avoid the traverse in the large gully. © Rockfax

UKC Logbook Description
25 pitch route topping out on the Grepon, rappel decsent.

Ticklists

ROCKFAX Chamonix: Top 50 , Big Routes , Euro Alpine Rock , Alpine Dreamz , Big Alpine Routes

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