France non-difficult traverses + climbs 2015

Dents de Lanfon Traverse S to N

In the northern French Alps near Annecy - see on Map

description in French | another
Difficulty French 3b max single-section, overall PD-

Did this yesterday. Chose it because it was lower altitude (max 1824m) to avoid recent snow.

• interesting class 3-4 scrambling on a ridge, some downward sections.
• much of it exposed over serious vertical walls.
• lots of route-finding to play with - (allow extra time).
• views over big lake, and great view of the ridge towers looking back from top of the highest.
• vegetation: lots of stepping on grass on footholds, grasping tree roots - (at first seemed distasteful, but I got used to it).
• over 900 meters length (including weaving) along the ridge, with like one-third of that spent hiking, often across steep slopes just below the ridge.
• many parties bring a short rope (I did not). Protection from (abundant) small trees.
• Descent perhaps the most dangerous part: some tricky routefinding, then a long steep loose gully, then long traverses across very steep slopes -- Not to do when wet (? bring a light ice axe ?). Since much faces NW, need to wait a few days after a snowstorm.
• Approach from N long-ish but undemanding. From S is shorter, if it works.

The French word "dent" means tooth, and there are many little teeth, so there's lots of weaving around and between the teeth. My preference would have been for more going up and over each tooth, but that's not how it worked, partly because the limestone on the crest tends to be breakable, also some sections would be harder than class 3-4.

Approach from North:
The "classic" way is to park on the N side above the village of Alex, with a mostly boring but undemanding hike - (said to be a more interesting and shorter approach from the S side). Oddly the location on asphalt road given in the main French description seemed to have almost no space for parking, so I parked lower, since my rental car contract (like most) forbids driving on dirt roads, and the extra work was undemanding. Most French users nowadays drive up higher on dirt/gravel road -- just above a steeper section there's a wide parking area (GPS latitude longitude approx N45.8751 E6.2432, altitude 855m) and driving above there is forbidden - (you could get a mountain bike higher than that, but the scree gets steep and nasty well before the top of the road). Other smaller parking spots below the steep section.

Hike the well-designed (boring) road to a house called Chalet de l'Aulp de Riant (N45.8590 E6.2503, altitude 1440m). This is also the return point of the traverse loop. Hike farther S up the road, then turn Right (W) off the road onto a trail up to a pass Col Fretes (N45.8529 E6.2506, alt 1576m).

SW on the crest of the ridge, over a nub which is a popular parapente launch site, up to a little notch. Down steep a little ways NE, then NW along the base of cliffs about 100m. Red dot marks start of climb (N45.8576 E6.2438).

Total approach from North roughly ...
Up +975m vertical over 6.2km distance from asphalt road trailhead.
Up +800m vertical over 4.5km distance from highest gravel/dirt road parking.

Approach from South . (not tested by me):
From the south side of Menthon-St-Bernard (town on SE side of the Lac d'Annecy), drive the D42 road over Col de la Forclaz. Then about 1.5km E from the Col (and about 0.7km before reaching village of Montmin), just after a curve right, turn L (N) onto a road which might be signed for any of Pres Verel or Chalets de l'Aulp or le Bois. After about 1.5km find parking at Pres Rond (N45.8229 E6.2634, alt 1216m). Could try continuing up the road, likely turns into dirt/gravel, to higher parking by Chalet de l'Aulp (N45.8321 E6.2633, alt 1420m). From here walk at first down a ways to the Chalets des Crottes (1341m). Then up past Col des Nantes and the Chalets des Nantes, and on roughly N past the Roc Lancrenaz (around 1700m). After a short downhill section (N45.8533 E6.2548), see the pass Col des Fretes to the left of the Dents de Lanfon. Turn Left (W) off the road onto an unsigned trail toward Col des Fretes. Next follow the directions above for the Approach from North.

Total approach from South roughly ...
Up +680m vertical over 7.1km distance from asphalt road trailhead.
Up +460m vertical over 5.0km distance from higher gravel/dirt road parking.

Climbing:
Scramble up on rock a little, keep looking right for a thin steel rail. Traverse Right to the the hardward. Climb up the steel rail, becomes steel cable. Hike up diagonal left to a second steel cable, up this to the col (alt 1790m) on the N side of the South peak(s) - (climbing up +175 vertical meters to here). No more cables or fixed hardware after this.

Alas this traverse does not include the South peak, so instead turn Right (N), go roughly along the ridge, sometimes hiking below it. If you're not sure where the route is, well that's key to the experience. You might find another red-paint dot every half-hour or so. One French-language description has more detailed instructions, but they assume that you know whether you're on Tooth #2 or Tooth #3 -- with so many teeth, I could never figure that out.

If you want to do extra scrambling or try harder climbing moves, there's lots of opportunity, but rock that gets little climber-testing is more likely to break. Be especially of really interesting-looking structures on the crest of the ridge.

One helpful detail: the Central Tooth (N45.8613 E6.2416) is the highest (alt 1824m) point on the ridge. Very obvious and intimidating as you approach it. Hike up to its base. Traverse Left on trail around its W side. After about 30 meters look up and see a sort of dihedral (open book) and climb up this. Then I went over to the SE side, climbed up farther, then crossed W thru a hole.

overall ridge traverse ... roughly ... upward +230m vertical, downward +190m vertical, over more than 900m distance including weaving (perhaps only 550m distance on a direct line).

Total for approach + climbing ... from highest dirt-road trailhead N approach ...
Up +1200m vertical over 5.0-5.5 km distance.
. . (wierdly, the "Terrain" altitude contours on Google Maps for the ridge are simply wrong.
. . . If want to make inferences from contours, get another map.)

Descent:
First major section goes roughly N near the ridge, but often significantly below on the E side. If you're not seeing a well-trodden trail, likely you've gone either too low or not far enough N. Soon a route-finding problem, getting through a rocky section with deep crevices. Follow cairns, and do not go down all the way into a crevice. There's a key Left turn which leads over a thick old fallen tree which bridges a shallow crevice.
Then hiking on talus or grass, with two or three sudden steep down-climb sections, much of the rock polished (and damp). One could be low class 5. Keep going N until (N45.8644 E6.2406) almost under another tooth.

Second major descent section: Down NE into a steep loose gully, curves E, then SE. Look for exit Right onto a traverse trail, soon some switchbacks down, to below all the cliffs (N45.8645 E6.2439, alt 1445m).

Third major section: Traverse to the right, S then SE, back to the approach road at Chalet de l'Aulp de Riant. Note: Early on this traverse is a trail junction with the obvious trail turning sharp Left. (Unless you're really sure you know better) just ignore that and continue S on the traverse.
Finish on the approach road back to parking.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Which direction? Seems like everybody does it S to N. And that worked for me.
Key advantage of going the other way, N to S, would be take the steep slippery descent in an easier direction (and before it got more slippery and dangerous with afternoon shower). Key disadvantage would be taking the (longest) rock section, on the S side of the Central (highest) peak, in the downward direction - (? or maybe there's away to avoid that? perhaps by hiking around the W side of Central Peak?)

Mont Aiguille (2086m) - normal route

The first technical rock climb in history was on Mont Aiguille in the year 1492.

This super-dramatic peak is south of Grenoble, France - See on Map

Today I climbed it by the Voie Normale, and I found a lot of fun moves on it. Also some serious rockfall (? from goats high above ?). And it goes through some interesting mountain features and climbing situations. It includes some sections with steel cable which can be used for aid.

The peak looks very impressive and intimidating. But the summit is a large + pleasant grassy plateau. Some climbers like to sleep out up there.

Very popular route - basic description in French | very detailed

Difficulty of crux seqeuences: French 3c or 3b
. . . (YDS low class 5), with several sequences at that difficulty.
. . . much of the limestone rock is noticeably smooth, sometimes very polished.
Alpine difficulty: PD
. . . about 250 vertical meters of climbing.
Approach from the North: about +580 vertical meters over 4.4 km distance.
. . . Approach from South is of similar magnitude.

There are several non-obvious turns and down-climbs in the route, and the consequences of getting off-route include bad rock -- so you do want to have a detailed route description. But all the ones I know of are in French.

Descent: Other than rockfall, the key drawback for this route is getting back down. The separate rappel route requires two rope, and a significant amount of down-climbing, with some non-obvious navigation (helps to have a diagram). The main alternative is to down-climb the Normal route, but then you have to be comfortable + solid down-climbing several low class 5 sequences. And if you use a rope for protection of some party members, there's a greater chance of rockfall onto your own or other parties.

GPS latitude longitude approximate ...
Parking North: N44.8581 E5.5576
bottom of Normal route: N44.8409 E5.5476
top of Normal route: N44.8400 E5.5484
East summit of Mont Aiguille: N44.8420 E5.5531

For those who want greater difficulty (French 5c or 5b) and less crowds and rockfall, and a bigger reason to haul up ropes for the rappel descent ...
There's another route called La Tour des Gemeaux - (which I've done before).

Ken