Multipitch Climbing Reports

We had already received a glimpse of Face au large during our abseil descent after climbing the beautiful  Et je suis le vent . The rock and the line looked fantastic and we were stoked to come back to  Face au large  on the next day. The start at the base is close to Et je suis le vent so that we could leave all gear up there and approach light the next morning leaving at 7:00 o'clock. Our discussions before the climb mainly revolved around the second and third pitches (6c & 7a) and we hoped it wouldn't be too much of a tough start. L1 IV Nice start in good rock along easy ramps & corners. Look out for a single glue-in ring up to the right. L2 6a+ Take a left at the layback-flake with some beefy moves and follow the widening crack. Eventually traverse left along a juggy crack with poor feet. L3 6c (55m!) Long and sustained slab pitch on a face structured with knobs, dents, edges & small cracks. I think most 50m ropes will barely be long enough to cover t...

As with many (alpine) objectives you need several things to align: favorable precipitation & temperature forecasts, a permissive agenda, proper shape as well as a likewise capable, motivated & amiable partner (with the same permissive agenda & proper shape). Thanks to vacation the agenda was as clear as the weather which promised an exceptional streak of days with hot & sunny weather around the Orny area in south-west Switzerland (0 mm, 9-14 degrees, 5-6 km/h). After a recent decent attempt in Caminando at  Wendenstöcke  (7a+) where we managed to free-climb all crux pitches >= 6c I thought our shape was good enough for the less strenuous & more technical granite (no intention to say it can't be hard, though!) So it didn't take long to convince ourselves that we should use this window of opportunity for a stay at the remote  Bivouac de l'Envers des Dorées. Max was eager for his debut while it would mean my third visit of this beautiful spot. During p...