Plagne - Face de Plagne (6a)

Easter weekend - for many people a traditional time to open the outdoor season, which is just as traditionally reflected by traffic levels, in particular towards the south. This year it seemed particularly bad with 90 minutes waiting time at Gotthard on Friday morning - at 4am! Not to mention more than 4 hours during the day...for us that is/was unacceptably long, and as the weather was nice everywhere we decided to head for the Bieler Jura, another traditional spring destination.

Recovering from an infected wound on my ankle (thank god above the shoe rim), we decided to take it easy on Saturday, and check out some short, but classic climbs at Plagne. While the climbing is relatively short (~160m), it's still worthwhile, as it's steep, and it's easy to link several routes. Our choice fell on the Faces de Plagne + de Rondchatel, two classic climbs from the 1950ies, which usually promise an interesting experience (which can range from stimulating to horrifying) even at moderate difficulty.

TDLR: If you need to choose one of the two classics, my recommendation is Face de Plagne. The rock is better, the climbing is better, the protection is better. However, if you look for less athletic, and you despise cracks, then Rondchatel might be the better choice.

Summary: Homogenous, steep climbing, often on cracks. Solid base protection with bolts, cams 0.3-1 recommended to obtain good protection. Climbing time ca. 3 hours.

Face de Plagne (6a)

L1 5c
Sturdy start on flakes with slippery feet. Elevated first clip, small/medium cams useful.

L2 5c
Short pitch (~10-15m) on cracks, can be linked with next pitch.

L3 5c
Again short pitch with a steep, but juggy sequence on bad feet. Belay around the right corner.

L4 5c
Impressive laybacking and roof traversal on flakes. Mind loose flake in upper part. Cam 1!

L5 5c+
Short pitch, awkward crack corner, then nice crack corner with fixed cam. Link with next.

L6 6a
Airy around arete to the left, technical crack climbing, likely hard if not jammed. Belay on ledge.

L7 5c
Keep leftish on ledge (towards belay of PAK 1012). Cool face climbing with funky roof exit.

L8 5c
Tensiony sloper/mantle start, then easier, keeping left. Exit on trees or belay ring.

Miriam engaged in the steep laybacking corner of L4 (5c).


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