UKC

Rockfax Description
III, 600m, 4 - 5 hours. A long route with plenty of varied climbing. There is not much technical ground but covering a lot of terrain in one day presents a specific type of challenge and will test your skills of moving together and route finding. There are numerous appealing looking options in the upper part of the route and a lot of old gear around, so sticking to the right line both on the way up and down is challenging for any team, even when you've already done the route a few times!
1) Scramble up slabby, broken rocks at the bottom left of the snowfield for 15m (or climb the snowfield itself if conditions allow or if you have crampons) to a good path which leads leftwards for 50m (via an exposed section of short, easy downclimbing) to the foot of the Papillons Couloir.
2) Continue up the path (which becomes increasingly vague) on the right-hand side of the couloir, passing numerous cairns.
As the couloir narrows and steepens, the path moves left and the going becomes more scrambling than walking but it is still fairly straightforward and it should be possible to keep motoring until you reach the foot of a wide, 10m corner-crack.
3) 4b. Thrutch up the corner (4b) to a bolt and scramble up for 15m to a well-polished ramp-line leading out left. Follow this easily enough (4a) to a double bolt belay 10m below a notch in the ridge crest above.
4) 4b. Continue for 5m towards the ridge and then go right up a flake and a slab (4b) to hit the crest. Follow it over excellent, blocky ground to a long, exposed ledge overlooking the Peigne slabs on the left.
5) Walk along the ledge for 50m to where it ends and then cut right up low-angled scrambling ground to rejoin the Papillons Couloir roughly 100m above where you left it. Climb this easily for 50m, exit it leftwards and then walk rightwards up ledges to a notch beneath Gendarme Pointe 3009m.
6) 4a. Go rightwards around the gendarme and scramble up to a notch on the right. Traverse rightwards across some loose but almost flat ground, and then climb a short and steep 10m step (4a) to reach a final, short traverse to Brèche 3043m.
7) From the brèche, descend down the gully line for around 10m then make a rising traverse rightwards (easier than it looks), passing some insitu tat, to reach a large ledge system.
8) 4c. Go along the ledge system rightwards to reach a large area of light-coloured rock - this is the 'Salle à Manger'. Cross this, still going right, to the foot of a right-leaning chimney at the same altitude as the Col du Peigne. Climb the chimney for two pitches (4c) to belay on some slightly disconcerting and loose looking blocks, beneath a steep flake-crack. Don't go too far right here - easy ground leads towards the Col du Peigne, but the route goes more directly up.
9) 4c. Climb the flake-crack (4c) to reach the extremely exposed summit ridge. Follow this, turning any difficulties on the right, to reach the pinnacle, after which the ridge drops away steeply. Make a 5m abseil onto a ledge on the right and from here, squirm (and it is a squirm) under the summit block and onto the top. © Rockfax

Liegard, O'Gorman, Ravanel and Couttet 23/Jul/1906.

Ticklists

Rebuffat's 100 Finest Routes in the Mont Blanc Massif , Escalades Choisies Mont-Blanc Aiguilles Rouges (60 Routes 4 to 6a+) , Alpine Dreamz , Alpine Progression , Alps 2023 , BMC - Easier Classics in the Mont Blanc Range , TM Alps , Cham Sep 24

Feedback

User Date Notes
Webster 21 Sep, 2023 Show βeta
βeta: The crux of the whole route is descending the 'easy' sloping ledge traverse between the salle a mange/quartze ledge and the breche. make sure the strongest/most confident member of the team takes this '2nd' as falling for them is not an option!
βeta?
Show beta
βeta: The crux of the whole route is descending the 'easy' sloping ledge traverse between the salle a mange/quartze ledge and the breche. make sure the strongest/most confident member of the team takes this '2nd' as falling for them is not an option!
gooberman-hill 13 Aug, 2022 Show βeta
βeta: When you get to the Breche below PT 3009 drop down the far side for 5m, then up the gully on the left to reach the Breche behind PT 3009. At the Breche behind PT 3043, descend 5m, traverse right 5m, then climb the corner system for 2 pitches (bolt belays). Then go right pretty much horizontally for 1 pitch to hit the Salle a Manger (quartz ledges). From the far climb the corner system (it is much more a set of corners than chimneys) for 2 pitches to reach the arete above the Col des Papillons. Then fire up 1 pitch to the summit ridge (obvious). Abseil down and right from the summit (bolts) on the cham side, then 2 further abseils to the quartz ledge. Reverse the traverse then 2 abseils back to the Breche behind PT 3043.
βeta?
Show beta
βeta: When you get to the Breche below PT 3009 drop down the far side for 5m, then up the gully on the left to reach the Breche behind PT 3009. At the Breche behind PT 3043, descend 5m, traverse right 5m, then climb the corner system for 2 pitches (bolt belays). Then go right pretty much horizontally for 1 pitch to hit the Salle a Manger (quartz ledges). From the far climb the corner system (it is much more a set of corners than chimneys) for 2 pitches to reach the arete above the Col des Papillons. Then fire up 1 pitch to the summit ridge (obvious). Abseil down and right from the summit (bolts) on the cham side, then 2 further abseils to the quartz ledge. Reverse the traverse then 2 abseils back to the Breche behind PT 3043.
Gwinn512 31 May, 2022 Show βeta
βeta: The corner from the quarz ledge is further left than you think and looks very steep
Show beta
βeta: The corner from the quarz ledge is further left than you think and looks very steep
Pero 10 Aug, 2019 Show βeta
βeta: We were using the description from the "60 routes" book. This probably has insufficient detail and it takes you onto the SW ridge, which felt more like the D+ it is. And getting back to the normal route at the Salle a manger is much further than it implies. The description on here looks much better. If you read the route described, there are 10 pitches of 4b/c rock. Unless you are moving together on this, then that's 3-4 hours just for the climbing. If you're going at AD+, I'd say the ascent is more like 5-7 hours, even if you know the route. And, I'd allow 4-5 hours back to the lift. In other words, 9-12 hours lift to lift is more realistic if AD+ is your grade.
βeta?
Show beta
βeta: We were using the description from the "60 routes" book. This probably has insufficient detail and it takes you onto the SW ridge, which felt more like the D+ it is. And getting back to the normal route at the Salle a manger is much further than it implies. The description on here looks much better. If you read the route described, there are 10 pitches of 4b/c rock. Unless you are moving together on this, then that's 3-4 hours just for the climbing. If you're going at AD+, I'd say the ascent is more like 5-7 hours, even if you know the route. And, I'd allow 4-5 hours back to the lift. In other words, 9-12 hours lift to lift is more realistic if AD+ is your grade.

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Route of Interest
Face Nord Centrale

Grade: AD+ ***
(Grande Casse)

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