Aiguille Dibona - berthet boell stofer - Gear ?

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 Slarti B 17 Jun 2019

Hi, Hoping to do the Berthet Boell Stofer route on Aiguille Dibona in a couple of weeks time.   
I think the belays are bolted but apart from that is all trad. 

Can anyone who has done the route suggest what gear we would need? , given the 3 hour walk up we don't want to take more than necessary but I aqm a biot of a wimp and like placing lots of protection. 

!  I was thinking set of nuts 1-11, 6 medium to large cams. It it granite so would some offsets be useful? 

 mauraman 17 Jun 2019
In reply to Slarti B:

Have you checked the conditions? I am heading to the italian side of the Alps in the same period, aiming to do a trad route up the Uja di Mondrone (2900 m.) and was told by the CAI (alpine club) that  this year there is still lots of snow above 2000 m. as there have been abundant late snow falls. They suggested objectives under 2000 m. I hope they are wrong but you might want fresh info.

OP Slarti B 17 Jun 2019
In reply to mauraman:

I was in French Alps a week ago and there was a lot of snow.  We will check when out there (going to Ailefroide first) but hopefully the Aiguill Dibona face should be OK. 

We expect big boots and crampons for ascent to hut and descent for the Aiguille. 

Have a great trip.

Post edited at 11:13
 Simon Caldwell 17 Jun 2019
In reply to Slarti B:

We did it a couple of years ago. It's a bit strange in that some pitches are fully bolted, others are entirely trad so you'll need a trad rack. Can't remember what rack we took, but it definitely didn;t include any offsets. Likely a set and a half of nuts, a few medium-large cams, 2 or 3 hexes, and some slings. I remember cams being useful on the Berthet variant, and slings on the Stoffer crack.

OP Slarti B 17 Jun 2019
In reply to Simon Caldwell:

Simon, I think we met in Lundy a few years ago !

Thanks for that.  I think the first few pitches are the Madier route so maybe that explains why some are bolted.  Sounds what I was expecting to take though I will add a couple of hexes. 

In reply to Slarti B:

> We expect big boots and crampons for ascent to hut and descent for the Aiguille. 

Holy shit, are the conditions THAT bad? I am off to Cham at the beginning of July and that is eye opening.

 Simon Caldwell 17 Jun 2019
In reply to Slarti B:

Rings a bell! Or was it Ariege?

Anyway, yes the section up to where it splits from the Madier was bolted, the next bit (Berthet) was trad, after that it seemed to vary at random! We followed the Boell (apparently lots of people take a more direct route up the arete, but we weren't sure where that went), which was very sparsely bolted. The Stoffer near the top had a couple of rusty pegs, though there was a harder-looking bolt line just to the right.

It's a fantastic route, seems impossible from the bottom that there could be an easyish line up there. We had to queue at the start (the weather meant we were there on Saturday) but everyone in front of us and behind us) did the Madier, so we were on our own until near the top, where we shared a belay with the other route so had to wait again. 

OP Slarti B 17 Jun 2019
In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:

We went up to the Soreiller hut around the same time last year.  There was snow from about 2300 m up to the hut and beyond.  You could probably get to the hut without  crampons but they were helpful and certainly needed going further up.   There is a lot snow this year but maybe not too unusual. 

btw last year we had been told the Berthet-boell route was bolted and had hardly any gear with us, hence the request!

OP Slarti B 17 Jun 2019
In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:

Just looked at the Chamonix conditions web site.  Report from last Tuesday showed 20-60 cm of recent snow.  But you have a couple fo weeks to go 

https://www.chamoniarde.com/montagne/conditions-montagne#sa5psex8udH7x7iKf

In reply to Slarti B:

Ah, turns out I went up to the Soreiller in Aug last year, I thought it was early July. My mistake. There was still a little snow pack but easily avoided. Maybe it's less shocking than I initially thought!!

 LucaC 17 Jun 2019
In reply to Slarti B:

A friend posted about the Dibona last week - they had to abandon their route because there was too much snow and ice on it, so it would be worth checking with the hut before you head up. 

We took a double set of friends up to blue, one silver, and a set of normal wires plus the small offsets for the routes we did, and that felt about right. Probably could have ditched the bigger nuts too.

Post edited at 19:18

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