Grande face

Provence, FR

__Laurent Girousse about Grande Face__ This part is the highest and probably the most impressive, it is situated on the right side of the cliff. It has been unexploited for a long time and the few long routes at the bottom weren’t enough to make it famous. Today it may seems unbelievable that this part of the cliff stayed forgotten for such a long time, but in the 80’s and 90’s only 3 long routes were equipped. Grande Face has been for a long time the training sector before going more on the left towards “1/2 lune” or “Berlin”. As this sector is quickly in the shadow (beginning of the afternoon) we spent little time there before moving on the left side. At that time I was already aware of the potential of this sector but we didn’t have enough willingness. Quickly, starting from the 1st or 2nd belay of the long routes I started equipping long length (50m) on the right of Inespérence... Putting ropes in this area wasn’t easy and I had to do long auto-belayed crossings. But I was rewarded by a wonderful rock... a real pleasure for climbers. I shared this job with Jean-Yves (Leguy). For him the hard routes and for me the easiest, according to our level. About a hundred routes appeared in a few years. As Grande Face was equipped quickly Jean Yves and I went more on the right toward Nitshapa. There again untouched walls were waiting for us, for our drills and for our willingness. Then with Marie Noelle we decided to launch ourselves in the remaining part, the one in the middle, on the right side of «Papillon”. This part is overhanged by a huge bulge and is almost inaccessible. We started from the bottom to equip a first route, but most of all to reach an enormous ledge that would allow me to equip around 30 routes in a few years. From there I spent a lot of time contemplating all these amazing holds that will give birth to the most beautiful routes I have equipped in Ceuse. It seems that today the East part has been fully explored... But who knows... - Laurent Girousse Orientation: Facing East, this part of the cliff lies on the shadow very early, at 2p.m in July for the Grande Face.
CRAG STATISTICS
128
Routes
16322
meters climbed
545
Zlags
7a
average grade

J F M A M J J A S O N D

Family friendly
Very safe
Parking
Slabs
Vertical
Overhanging
Roof
Exposition
1888 m.
70 min.

GALLERY