Un triplé légendaire: Et je suis le vent (6c) at Aguilles Dorées

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 previous visits I had climbed Tajabone, Eole danza per noi, La chevauchée fantastique and Le retour en Afrique which had all left a desire to return again.

For those who are feeling the same desire to discover the climbing around this magical place I have a few kind words of caution based on my own experience and observations of other newcomer experiences. After all, it would be a shame to waste a 5 hour hike-in for a mediocre climbing experience!

• The start of the routes are not marked and due to the structured rock it's often not obvious to identify the start of a climb beyond doubt. As a matter of fact, many parties return empty-handed because they couldn't find the route!
• Beware of the clean climbing style around the Aguilles where all routes feature only the essential bolts which commands the routine use of mobile protection and the trust in its effectiveness.
• Fewer bolts also mean more difficult route finding which calls for an established intuition about route & topo reading. It's quite exciting to run out your rope to the middle of nowhere, I can tell you that.
• While the routes in the plaisir guide book rarely exceed the difficulty of 6a/+ the rope leader better brings a margin on that grade (on granite!) to ensure the necessary upward progress. I heard from parties they had worked a pitch for 2 hours! 
• While they are nice for climbing the abundant flakes can become a headache during abseiling. Account for the possibility to get your rope stuck on the way down!
• Lastly, proper fitness & health. Don't let the hike with a big pack and the altitude (you sleep at 3000m) wear you out or even think about ascending in bad health. Once I caught a cold at the bivi and it was the worst hike-out I ever had. Lastly, don't jeopardize the health of your fellow climbers with some half-cured infectious disease - you share a narrow space at the bivi!

While we hiked in from La Breya (4:15 h - mind the cable car takes a break 12:15-13:15 o'clock!) we contemplated about the order in which we should climb our threefold objective: Et je suis le vent (6c), Face au large (7a) and Le sud, le soleil, la plage, les palmiers (6c+)? Should we start with the nominally easiest? The supposedly most beautiful? Something else? In hindsight I think it was a good choice to start with Et je suis le vent. It turned out to be the kindest route of our triple allowing a gentle start. Moreover, its start is next to Face au large so that we could leave our gear up there for the next day - so the sequence was set.

Before diving into the specifics - a last comment on the "triplé légendaire" - on our last day we had the pleasure to meet Gilbert Maillard who initiated the Envers des Dorées. He asked if and what we had been climbing and his response summarized our experience perfectly: légendaire!

Finally - you may think - we get to our first route. From the bivi it took us not quite one hour to reach the base of the climb. On Sept. 5th the sun hits the base around 9:45 o'clock. We usually took it quite easy and set the alarm to 6:00 o'clock and left at 7:30 o'clock after a decent breakfast. The early birds would get up 1 hour earlier and leave around 6! In fact, it would have been nicer to get up earlier and have a bit more rest in the afternoon after the climb. For instance, I found it hard to fall asleep shortly after an opulent supper!

Approaching the base of Et je suis le vent (red line). Note the little snow this year (2023)!

L1 6a

After a short ramp you encounter a steep crack corner which resolves nicely with the structure on the faces. The crux waits in the third part with a wide crack that is mainly negotiated by the chocked rocks inside.Tricky exit and scramble to the belay.

L2 6b

The guide promises 'spectacular' cracks and it delivers! It's not perfectly splitter though and the crux rather involves pinching that jamming. But in any case, it's long, sustained and stretches your gear and rope!

L3 6a+

After some easy blocks you approach a bolt that protects some balancy layback moves around the corner. On the other side you meet with a long system of hand & fist cracks. Halfway up a bolt lures on the left for a 6b variation. The rock looks cleaner on the 6b variation, but the cracks also seemed more flared and rope drag is likely due to the traverse. We stayed on the straight line and traversed back left only at the belay.

L4 6a+

Tricky start to reach the wide cracks above. Some funky moves later you meet a bolt that is not in the topo at which we kept left to meet yet another bolt in already easing terrain.

L5 5c

This pitch takes the proud line along the arete which is indicated by another additional bolt. Leaving the arete to the left you enter an easy corner with a short but athletic roof exit directly to the belay.

L6 6a

This pitch presents two options: after a balancy step you can either tackle a short clean corner (#3) or follow two bolts on the ridge. Obviously, we took the crack corner!

L7 6b

Two bolts protect the proud line around the red arete which features nice cracks in the upper part. The short crux is to move around the corner into the cracks.

L8 6a (Eole)

This pitch is shared with Eole and also offers a slabby 6b variation on the right after a common juggy introduction on generously sculpted rock. We chose the 6a on the left which has a tricky traverse into nice jamming & spreading.

L9 6a+ (Eole)

After a bizarre crux with poor feet right out of the belay you enter a straight & flowy system of of corners & flakes. 

L10 6c

Majeure! The face is full of splitter cracks topped with plenty of decent feet which make climbing a real treat! The soft crux consists of entering and leaving a small roof at the bolt where the smooth wall features only some small edges for the feet and jamming is the name of the game! An easy crack corner concludes a real climbing feast!

L11 6b+

Instead of taking the "logical" line through the big corner on the left you follow several bolts that traverse out to the right. It's rather balancy with bad holds and sometimes you even climb down, but overall it's quite soft and well protected for both ends of the rope.

L12 6b

Another special pitch that tackles the face instead of the "logical" cracks in the right corner (which are used by Face au large). Indeed, the face mainly requires more conventional pulling on edges which might be a welcome change from the cracks. The upper part features some unique chicken heads juuust in the perfect position. A piece of art you might think!

L13 3

Easy scrambling to the top (maybe not quite III though), can be linked with L12.

Going at a quite average pace it had taken us roughly 6 hours to reach the top. In particular, L2 had eaten a lot of time, but other than that we made good progress on each pitch.

We rappeled Face au large, even though I was a bit sceptical about the rope getting stuck. Funnily enough, it went all smooth (in contrast to the seemingly safer rappel via Eole on the next day). It took us 1:15h to touch base again.

Fazit

We agree a lot with the guide when it calls Et je suis le vent a 'spectactular, sustained & memorable' route. In some sense it seems like a slightly more difficult version of Eole danza per noi. While it offers continuous climbing, the really cruxy sections are short and rather test technique than power or endurance. Mobile protection is easy and abundant and the compact sections are comfortably complemented with bolts. Clear recommendation!

L1 (6a) In the middle of the picture you can see the wide crack crux.

Max blowing gear on pitch 2 (6b).

Looking down on L2 (6b).

Layback crux at the start of L3 (6a+)

Exit of L3 (6a+) with wide cracks that jam alright in the back.

Start of L4 (6a+) with big round grooves. The line continues left of the top most rock tip.

Nice 5c prow in L5 with athletic exit.

Laughing at the longueur majeur L10 (6c). The line attacks the left end of the roof on the right hand side. Picture taken in 2021.

Plaisir crack corner at the end of L10 (6c).

Coming around the corner in the 6b+ traverse in L11.

Et je suis le vent (red), Eole danza per noi (blue) & Face au large (green). The climber in the picture is climbing the shared L8 of Et je suis le vent & Eole.