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Chockstone Forum - Trip Reports

Tells Us About Your Latest Trip!

Author
Bumbling around Briançon

Doug
31-Aug-2014
2:46:43 PM
After walking the GR54, Di and I are having a bit of time playing old farts' games with rocks. We had a fun day out yesterday. Here's a report if anyone's interested:
http://dougsrandomramblings.blogspot.fr/2014/08/the-eagles-nest-and-le-gaulois.html
Cheers
Doug

vwills
1-Sep-2014
3:04:17 AM
We spent 11 days based in Guillestre in June in a heat wave and friends lent us that book which was really helpful. They steered us away from older crags that tend to be polished. Much less snow is around now looking at your photos, not surprisingly. Snoopy direct at 6b was a really nice 9 pitch route at Ailefroide. Finding the start behind the snow bank and The descent across a wet eroded gully were more challenging than the climb. We wanted to do a route on Val du Tete but it was roasting.
We would not recommend the multi pitches in the Queyras at Clapeyto, though great views. The rock was pretty awful we thought.

The conglomerate at Rue de Masque was quite interesting to climb on and lots of high quality limestone everywhere. We went to Fessourier and Rocher du Maubert as well. Dave of course headed out on the slalom course one day. The white water options are impressive. The Ecrin is a great place to have a holiday
Ps Jon Jones said to say Hi.
mikllaw
1-Sep-2014
7:18:45 AM
ha! we did that route and ate at Le Gaulous
we ordered a dish (the meat salad for 2) that the waitress said was tres gros, and we couldn't finish it
great climbing variety

Eduardo Slabofvic
1-Sep-2014
11:47:00 AM
Doug,

How would you describe the level of polish on the limestone routes you got on? I'm planning a trip to this region for next year, but detest polished limestone.

I'm interested in the conglomerate and Quartz. I have climbed on some of the quartz in this region many years ago, but the particular quarts crag I went to was very small and I wouldn’t go back to it. Are there multi pitch conglomerate and quarts in this area?

Thanks in advance

IdratherbeclimbingM9
1-Sep-2014
12:19:48 PM
On 31/08/2014 Doug wrote:
>After walking the GR54, Di and I are having a bit of time playing old farts'
>games with rocks. We had a fun day out yesterday. Here's a report if anyone's
>interested:
>http://dougsrandomramblings.blogspot.fr/2014/08/the-eagles-nest-and-le-gaulois.html
>Cheers
>Doug

Good reading, and looks to be an interesting area that I have not heard of before.


Hmm.
>"Well .... it isn't Arapiles, but ...".
&
>"But then it's pretty hard to find a charming little bar-café like "Le Gaulois" when you've finished climbing for the day!"


Has the Nati Cafe gone down in quality recently?
:P

(Please note the tongue in cheek icon, heh, heh, heh.)

Garrath
1-Sep-2014
3:41:36 PM
.
>
>I'm interested in the conglomerate and Quartz. I have climbed on some
>of the quartz in this region many years ago, but the particular quarts
>crag I went to was very small and I wouldn’t go back to it. Are there
>multi pitch conglomerate and quarts in this area?
>

All the multi pitch climbing is either granite or limestone. You may find the odd 2 pitch climb but that is about it.

Doug
2-Sep-2014
5:52:07 AM
On 1/09/2014 vwills wrote:
>We spent 11 days based in Guillestre in June in a heat wave and friends
>lent us that book which was really helpful. They steered us away from older
>crags that tend to be polished. Much less snow is around now looking at
>your photos, not surprisingly. Snoopy direct at 6b was a really nice 9
>pitch route at Ailefroide. Finding the start behind the snow bank and The
>descent across a wet eroded gully were more challenging than the climb.
>We wanted to do a route on Val du Tete but it was roasting.
>We would not recommend the multi pitches in the Queyras at Clapeyto, though
>great views. The rock was pretty awful we thought.
>
>The conglomerate at Rue de Masque was quite interesting to climb on and
>lots of high quality limestone everywhere. We went to Fessourier and Rocher
>du Maubert as well. Dave of course headed out on the slalom course one
>day. The white water options are impressive. The Ecrin is a great place
>to have a holiday
>Ps Jon Jones said to say Hi.

Thanks for all the tips Vanessa. After looking at the guidebook I'd almost made up my mind to go to Rue de Masque, now you've convinced me.
And a P.S. for you: Mike and Britta say hello. We've just had dinner with them at our friend Carol's place.

Doug
2-Sep-2014
6:02:10 AM
On 1/09/2014 Eduardo Slabofvic wrote:
>Doug,
>
>How would you describe the level of polish on the limestone routes you
>got on?

The visit is really just getting underway. So far we've climbed on granite twice (back to Ailefroide again tomorrow), quartz once and limestone twice. Nid d'Aigle was surprisingly unpolished given that it is such a classic. The crux overhang was quite polished, but it didn't matter because the holds were so big; the rest of the route was great. We had a look at a limestone sector today which reminded of Waterworks Quarry in Hobart, except maybe the rock was even worse: all held together by huge iron rods in places. Di had a bit of a look at one route that left here with some cuts on both hands, so it certainly wasn't polished. My guess - based on those two very limited exposures - is that is it probably depends on the particular crag. (Like you I am not a big fan of polished limestone.) I've noticed that the guidebook specifically mentions polished rock in some sectors so we will stay away from those. Maybe Vanessa has a bit to add?
Cheers
Doug

vwills
3-Sep-2014
12:41:00 PM
Small world. Dave says what's wrong with waterworks?

Mike and Britta steered us away from polish I think so we didn't have any. Apparently most stuff around St crepin was polished. Basically any routes done in the 90s, or with roadside access we avoided, and it was a strict shade seeking time of year we were there. They also warned us off the gabbro multipitch in he Queyras (sorry don't recall the name).
Have fun.

Garrath
3-Sep-2014
2:22:31 PM
If you want some inside information for the area. Contact Jerry Gore, a very competent climber/mountaineer who lives in Valliouse. Check his website out www.alpbase.com.

There is some pretty impressive multi pitch 'adventure' sport routes out there that aren't in the Durance guide book. adventure meaning bolts can be further apart than the normal, with some occasional route finding issues. The Tete d'Aval has some awesome climbing upto 10 pitches. Big big cliff on right as you pass Les Vigneaux.

Doug
15-Sep-2014
12:10:09 AM
On 1/09/2014 Eduardo Slabofvic wrote:

>I'm interested in the conglomerate and Quartz.

We went to a quartzite crag today that I can only describe as fabulous. Quite a lot like the gneiss at Skaha in British Columbia. It is Rocher Baron. Very busy today because it was Sunday: full of Italians. We've got to have at least one more day midweek before we leave. It's not multi pitch but highly recommended if you want something different from the limestone or granite multi pitch stuff.
On another note, a couple of days ago we did a great granite multi-pitch route at Ailefroide: Et On Tuera Tous Les Affreux. Eleven pitches: 5c+, 5b+, 4c, 5c+, 5c, 5b, 5c, 5c+, 5c, 5b, 5c; 360 metres. Nicely sustained at about 16/17 the whole way. Highly recommended if you ever come this way. A couple of the pitches looked a bit scrappy but when we climbed them they were great.

There are 11 messages in this topic.

 

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