Petit Clocher du Portalet - État de Choc (7a)

It was during our last year's trip to the Aiguilles des Dorees that I first set eyes on the Petit Clocher du Portalet - and I was immediately fascinated by its impressive contours. A mountain to come back for! In particular, as it hosts one of the most peculiar crack climbs of Switzerland, the État de Choc ("state of shock"), a line notorious for its wide cracks. A word and a year later I returned together with Dave to embark on a memorable climbing journey...

État de Choc 7a (6c obl?) 300m
C. & Y. Rémy 1983

L1 6a/+ 25m 3 bolts           Easy blocks & steep boulder at the end.
L2 6b 35m 2 bolts           Crack boulder, technical corner, chossy ledge.
L3 6b+ 25m 1 bolt          Steep face sequence
L4 6c 50m 1 "bolt"          Layback, hand/fist crack, chimney
L5 7a 40m 1 bolt          Chimney, squeeze, steep off-width crux
L6 6c 35m 1 piton, 1 bolt   Steep laybacks, double crack (hands)
L7 7a 25m 3 bolts, 1 piton   Tough layback, off-width, spreading, funky crux
L8 6b+ 40m 1 bolt, 2 pitons Corner crack (hands/fist), keep right, chossy overhang
L9 4a 25m

L1 6a/+ 25m 3 bolts
The start is well marked with a red dot, and a slinged bolt. A bit to the left, another route goes through the steep yellow/orange rock. Instead, our route goes right over blocked terrain. A short, steep crescendo waits before the belay, but nothing too harsh.

L2 6b 35m 2 bolts
The first moves from the comfortable ledge are pretty tricky, it's steep, clean, bad feet...at least it involves some hand jamming :) The following corner does not look too welcoming either, in particular as the bolt has been placed only higher up. But it takes small gear in the lower section, and resolves alright. The rest of the pitch covers the big, chossy ledge.

L3 6b+ 25m 1 bolt
From here the actual route of État de Choc starts, and steep it is! The only bolt marks the crux, and is well visible from the ledge. The crux is one of the few sequences where you can benefit from face climbing skills - granite style, of course, i.e. bad feet, tensiony moves...but pretty cool - it is actually slightly overhanging! The belay is found towards the left on the upper ledge.

L4 6c 50m 1 "bolt"
Finally, some splitter action! From the belay you immediately spot the offset crack to the left, which leads into the characteristic chimney-corner system. It starts pretty thin (2x#0.4) with some laybacking moves, and widens into hand/fist (2x#3). After this sequence you sure reach operating temperature, unless you are a crack jedi masta :D At the start of the subsequent chimney you find an antique bolt, it's pretty useless, also because the chimney ground has various cracks for protection (2x#2). The chimney climbs nicely, and soon you reach a pedestal with a sling belay. Alternatively, you could climb another 10m to reach the next pedestal with one solid bolt (+#0.75).

L5 7a 40m 1 bolt
Given the average regional off-width mastery, this pitch will likely be the crux for most people. It starts friendly along the chimney (shuffle #1), before it narrows into a squeeze. We followed the common advice to carry the gear on a sling, and take off our helmets - it is really narrow, and somewhat claustrophobic! Don't be tempted to stay inside, that is a quite a dead end, better works towards the outside, which can be exited surprisingly easily. The remaining 25m cover the "glorious" off-width: First, cracks on the inside, and feet on the outside aid progress (#0.75, #2), but the corner increasingly gets steeper, and "holds" and "feet" get scarcer. This where my personal "état de choc" moment happened: I had climbed (shuffled) beyond my last piece (#4), hoping that I could reach the fixed sling from an intermediate chockstone. Well...the chockstone did turn out as an ok rest, but I felt stuck - unable to move on, let alone back. The main issue was actually that I was immediatly out of breath whenever I tried to move up...not pumped, but totally exhausted! In need for a real rest, I managed to fiddle in a small cam at my feet, super tedious! Once rested, I hangdogged the rest of the off-width, which has this awkward armbar/chickenwing size, and narrows to about hand/fist stacks in the final section. The obligatory exit to the belay is protected by a bolt, even though these laybacking moves felt comparatively easy. This was for sure the longest pitch I had ever done...I spent more than 1:30 hour fighting this beast!!

L6 6c 35m 1 piton, 1 bolt
After the previous pitch, I was glad to hand over the lead to Dave to attack the steep layback looming ahead (crux). I guess fist-jams would work, too, but it deemed me too steep to make them stick. After a short rest, and another layback (or o.w. if you prefer), follows the praised double-crack: an impressive section of two, parallel, and clean cut cracks. The corner crack climbs on great hands, and is nicely assisted by spreading between the corner face, and the parallel crack. Even though this section is pretty easy, I was still pretty exhausted from the previous pitch! Lastly, you exit the corner to the right to gain the belay (moderate).

L7 7a 25m 3 bolts, 1 piton
Another beefy layback opens this pitch, and it continues past a fixed sling, up to the first bolt. The maillion at the bolt tells much of the story: the next bolt is visible about 10m higher up, and the terrain does neither look easy to climb nor to protect. Understandably, this prospect could make make you lay down your weapons! Indeed, the off-width sequence after the bolt is strenuous, but you are rewarded by finding a "hidden" bolt around the corner. Approaching the crux bolt is more a technical affair of spreading and stemming, and then - spoiler alert! - the solution is "querdenken": Going up is as hopeless as it seems - instead you need to reach the juggy ledge to the left. Unfortunately, it is out of reach (even if you are 1.85m tall). My solution was a funky "release-right-hand-catch-left-hand" boulder move from spreading between a small face hold on the left, and the corner face to the right. What a rewarding move! After a few ledges, look out for the belay to the right*.

*...or let your momentum get the better of you, and continue on the 20m corner crack with just two cams X) Guess who could be such a genius...

L8 6b+ 40m 1 bolt, 2 pitons
Another premium corner crack! Starting on hands, it slightly widens to become fists in the upper section. But first you need to get back into the corner from the belay, which is apparently not completely trivial according to Dave. After the corner crack, fixed slings lead the way over some steep flakes, which can be jammed, too. Two options arise now: either you follow the pitons to the left, or you keep right at the arete (bolt), and go for the chossy looking face with another piton under a small roof (that is what we did after some back and forth). After the chossy overhang, you soon spot the belay on the plateau. Make sure to keep an eye on rope drag, otherwise hauling the rope could become harder than the actual climbing!

L9 4a 25m
The final summit with the little madonna figure is reached over easy terrain, but as time had progressed, and as we had been up there just the day before via the south-east face, we decided to skip it, and rather rush for dinner ;)

Oh boy, had we underestimated this route! But would we have tried otherwise!? :D In any case, we had taken much longer than expected (8:30 hours - just to get from base to top) - and the crux pitch took us more than 2 hours! But I am glad that we persevered, and eventually made it to the top to conclude an extraordinary experience!

The abseiling over Ave Cesar went pretty smooth, I was just a bit afraid of the first manouver over the edge...imagine the rope got stuck in a steep wall like this, with the light increasingly fading...Sometimes we had to pendulum to get to the belays. 60m ropes would probably save you only one manouver. Total time abseil: ca. 50-60min