5.7,
Sport, 400 ft (121 m), 4 pitches,
Avg: 3.3 from 4
votes
FA: unknown
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> Le Bec de Sormiou
A short multi-pitch ridge climb in a very spectacular location. White rock with deep blue on both sides.
. . . As a rock climb, pretty short compared to the time and distance of approach. Surely there are several multi-pitch longer and more interesting nearby on La Momie.
. . . As part of a larger outing, could be a great, especially combined with
the route "Traversée de l'extrême Bec", and perhaps adding the "Aretes Integrale" variation (below on this page).
Start from the wide area on the east side of the Extreme Bec, below the arete -- see an old big steel ring about 5 meters above bottom. Up the steep pillar (somewhat polished) to belay at top or perhaps a bit on left side (5.6-5.7 with bolts). Next perhaps on easy ledge then onto (low 5th class, perhaps protect with slings) the arete to belay at the foot of another steep wall / pillar. Climb that past a threaded rope/sling placement more toward the right (rather than the obvious crack to the left, more difficult polished). Then up to belay on flat top (5.6-5.7 with bolts). Then climb a dihedral to reach grassy slopes, easier toward left (SW) side. Scramble/walk roughly NW to the summit.
descent: From the summit go NW roughly along the crest, over or around two more higher points to reach the Col Lui d’Ai (lat long ~ N43.2061 E5.42335), with a couple of down-climb sections near the Col (difficulty not more than 3b). Then follow the Black-dots marked trail down to the Black-line marked trail, and take that back to Sormiou village.
. . Or there might be a way to avoid those down-climb sections by instead going down the E side to meet the solid-Black-line marked approach trail closer toward the Bec.
les Arêtes de Sormiou Integrale: Instead of going back down to the village (and especially if have a vehicle parked on the NW side of the Col de Sormiou, or a bicycle stashed near the Col) ...
A more interesting way to go to Col de Sormiou is by continuing NW from Col Lui d'Ai staying on the ridge:
- - >
See the route "Arêtes de Sormiou de Col à Col".
This "Aretes Col Col" route stays as much as possible exactly on the crest of the ridge of Cap Sormiou, climbing over many rocks and gendarmes and a few larger summits. Some short sections "on the razor". Or
if don't want so much climbing, could take
the "indirect" Aretes route.
Sustained views out over the Sea on both sides.
other sources:
Best topo diagram for this route is on page 245 in the print guidebook
Escalade Plaisir Alpes du Sud, Provence, by Hervé Galley (Editions Olizane, 2007).
Much of the words on this route page are the same as on another website: the English-language version of the route "Traversée et Arête de l'Extrême Bec" on CampToCamp.org (c2c). That's because the author of this page on MP previously also wrote all the text for c2c under the user ID "kenr" on CampToCamp.org -- (though perhaps other c2c users have since modified it).
hardware: Modern stainless steel bolts (as of 2015) and some cords threaded through holes in rock.
Likely helps to supplement the quickdraws with some slings around horns or through holes in the rock.