Climbing in the Chartreuse
Two beautiful routes of very different character on two emblematic Chartreuse summits.
With Aude.
Limestone climbs have a personality that often depends on their age. Modern lines generally offer fine, technical climbing on compact, sound rock and well-bolted routes. Historic routes, on the other hand, put the modern climber in an unsettling situation, where each move is measured and the climbing is guided by the few weaknesses in the rock that allow you to protect properly without venturing into fragile areas. Here are two examples.
Recently, Philippe Musatto put up a beautiful fully bolted route on the west face of the Dent de Crolles: Une Seconde, la Vie.
While the first, traversing part is really very beautiful, the second part, more athletic and less sustained, appealed to us less. But it is still a very beautiful route.
After dancing on the Dent, we head for its austere counterpart at the far northern end of the massif: the Granier and its beautiful north-west pillar. This route actually takes the north face and not the pillar, which promises an atmosphere that is... gripping.
This time an almost double set of cams up to #3 is on the menu. After two approach pitches on a ledge on the west face, the route traverses right onto the north face, where the rush of vertigo is truly impressive!
Almost all the belays are equipped with a bolt + 1 peg + a rod onto which a bolt + 10mm nut can be added. Enough to set off calmly into the pitches, which themselves have little fixed gear.
But they are beautiful and protect well. Apart from the traverse on the north face and the last pitch, the rock is fairly good. However, the seeps take a long time to dry after a rainy spell, as we found out on a few very wet passages...
The route tops out abruptly at the summit cross, on a soothing, flowery plateau: a typical contrast of the Prealps routes.
The Chartreuse: legendary powder in winter, walls with character in summer!
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