Rocher de l'homme

Today I climbed Ghost Dog (ED-) near Chamrousse with my friend Francois. I picked him up at 6:30 and we were at tthe trailhead by around 7:15 or so. It took a little while for us to find the correct trail to the base of the cliff, and we ended up getting a little lost, but we eventually found it. It helps to have a landmark (a 300 meter tall cliff!)

Along the way we saw a chamois, and heard many more scurrying off down the scree. Part of the approach involves a 50 meter rappel down loose rock

The beginning of the climb was on a steep grassy slope, and wound its way over more loose rock and grass until we reached a big ledge after two pitches. From here, the climbing got steep and difficult. It was a very athletic and fatiguing style of climbing, but we made our way up it mostly free. We had to aid our way past the crux pitch (5.12a/7a+) after getting a little spanked trying to free it. More than half of the rope lengths had roofs and long moves which made it impossible to save very much energy. Finally, theres a difficult (5.11a/6b+) but short section one pitch from the top, which I was happy to do on sight. Here are some photos from our climb





Its almost 1050 feet from the base to the top, but you start 1000 meters from the valley floor, so it adds to the exposure and "ambiance"! Here is a panorama from the true, and not very impressive summit:
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quicktime VR

On the way out, we got trapped behind barricades because there was a downhill roller blading/ street luge/bike race. Having played ESPN extreme games on my playstation, I consider myself something of an expert with the street luge, but nothing prepares you for the real thing


Not impressed? Perhaps some videos will do them more justice.
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