La Heutte - Bonnes Fontaines

The Jura crags are a nice place to visit during the early season, in particular the south-faces, such as those at La Heutte. While we had climbed at the sector Le Paradis on an earlier occasion, we decided to check out the sector Bonnes Fontaines this time. It offers two short multipitch routes, and a small, but fine selection of crag routes in three close-by sectors. At Nostalgique lots of cracks split a big slab, which offer options for moderate (trad) climbing. The sector Secret Land exhibits huge and very steep bulges in great rock. The rock  at Tintin is good, too, but again a mix of steep slabs and cracks.

The sector Secret Land - next time!

L'Amicale 6b+ (3 pitches)

L1 6b
This route starts next to the sector La Nostalgique, together with identically named multipitch route La Nostalgique (5c, 5 pitches, glue-in bolts). While latter starts in an obvious dihedral, L'Amicale follows the arete. We could not resist the logic of the dihedral, and started our climb there. On the big ledge the two routes separate, and we picked up L'Amicale again. Leaving the ledge is pretty tricky, shallow cracks on a pretty blank face already require quite a bit of belief in friction. Don't stop at the first abseil-belay that you find, but rather go a but more to the right to reach a comfy belay on a big ledge.

Superb dihedral at the start of La nostalgique.

L2 6b+
The first pitch was already a solid challenge, and now it was supposed to get even harder...but in the end they felt about the same grade. In terms of appearance, the second pitch is quite different. You climb a beautiful pillar, which starts through an interesting off-width corner, and later turns into a slabby affair aided by the aretes on each side of the pillar. Super cool pitch, very balancy and subtle.

Awesome pillar in 2nd pitch of L'Amicale (6b/+).

L3 6b
Starting from a comfortable belay again, you go out to the right into a slab structured with shallow edges and slopy feet. Maybe we had warmed up by now, but in any case this pitch felt relatively easy compared to the two previous pitches - even if you don't avoid the slab by reaching out to the right. After a easy intermezzo, another slabby section leads to the final belay.

Third and final pitch with structured slabs (6b).

The descent is best made by hiking down. The path is steep and slippery, but many chains aid the way down. However, be very careful not to cause rock fall, as the crags are just below. Indeed, later at the La Nostalgique crag, one such rock hit merely a couple of meters next to us. Alternatively, you could rappel down, but the terrain is fragmented, and it would likely not be very pleasant.

La Nostalgique (Crag)

Trying to pull out a stuck nut in the sector La Nostalgique.

Le lézard / Gysmoglouglou 6a clean
We had brought a rack to check out the cracks at this sector. Somehow, I fancied to try Le lézard, but in hindsight it was not a great choice. The placements are at best ok-ish, and the top is a pretty blank slab...however, here it is easy to switch into the cracks of Gysmoglouglou, which offer sufficient options for protection.

L'amanite 6c
To finish our business at Bonnes Fontaines, we wanted to take a shot at the hardest route of this sector. From the ground it had appeared cruxy, and indeed it was. First, there are plenty of cracks, but at some point they fade away and a funky slab boulder needs to be negotiated. The solution felt very aleatoric, but well, sometimes you get lucky even at the first shot :)


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