Hello I am looking for any information about the less travelled routes of the Dent du Geant specifically the South Face (TD/TD+) one which is mainly an AID route. Can only find stuff about the normal route so if you have anything about this I would very much appreciate any help.
There's a brief description of the Voie Burgasser (the S Face route) on Camp to Camp, along with a much more detailed description of the Geant Branche alternative to the trade route.
not that its much use to you but did it 29.8.66 in big boots. managed to free some of it. my first serious Alpine lead. have scanned some photos of it which I plan to put up in my gallery which may help if you are planning ahead for next year.
I'm confused, because I think you mean the Aiguille du Geant? Anyhow, the Burggasser S Face route is in the Alpine Club guide (well, my old one dating from c. 50 years ago):
My understanding is that there is a more "aid" involved route called South Face that tackles the overhanging side and is graded TD/TD+. This is not the descent route. It was done solo by Alex Huber a few years ago: South Face (TD-/TD, 5.7 A1 or 5.11a, 160m, seven pitches, Burgasser-Leist, 1935). But I am struggling to find meaningful information about it :-/
that is the one Gordon thank you. I am a bit confused on the "Aiguille" and the "dent du geant"... arent we talking the same thing with the "aiguille" being the big pinacle that gets to the top? it is crazy but i cannot seem to find any info about it... this photo mentions the "route 25".. do you have a picture of that as well?
I'm must say I'm mightily confused by the name in the guidebook, because we always called it the Dent du Géant and every other book I've got calls it the Dent du G. But here is the diagram in that same guide, for what it's worth:
It's a nice adventure route with some exposure and a mix of good and shit rock sections, in particular in the traverses. Where there is bad rock it is easy climbing.
Easy going to the top of the first pillar. It was 1 pitch up iirc. Then it's a traverse left and a move or 2 pulling on gear to go over an overhang. Don't get drawn right off the pillar by a peg you can see as it leads to an impasse.
Afterwards there's a section of aid for nearly a full pitch or A0 mainly on pegs, and a pitch after that where you change a few times from free to aid to free up to and around the big cave/overhang. Exiting from an aid stance to free round a jump felt like the crux. Then it's cruise to the top.
Biggest issue is people abseiling down knocking to is/ice onto you, and clogging up the belays. Mainly guided parties led by guides who should know better.
Oh and btw, the ac guide has a mistake in that they mixed up 2 different routes in the topo, so look it up before heading for it or you may get a surprise
In the old Alpine Club (blue 1970's) Guide the mountain is referred to as the Dent in the written text and then referred to as the Aig in the drawing of the route
The recent A/C (1990's) Guide it is only referred to as the Dent du G, they are one and the same mountain.
I climbed the south face route (Bergasser 1935) in the mid 1980's.The aid sections were easily done by pulling / standing on the odd pegs and it was straight forward and did not require anything other than your standard trad /alpine rack.It must have been climbed free by now.
There is a basic topo in the most recent A/C guide, Gordon's scanned description would get you up as well, which is virtually the same as the 1970's A/C description. We used the written description from Rebuffat's 100 best routes book, the route finding is obvious.The descent is easy abb's alongside the ships ropes.
There are far better rock routes of a similar grade / length in the Vallee Blanche near by.
> There are far better rock routes of a similar grade / length in the Vallee Blanche near by.
But they don't lead to one of the Alps' most spectacular high summits!
I tried to solo it in the 80's to try out an improvised self belay system, but bailed after a couple of pitches when it became clear it wasn't going to work on traverses!
along with some info and pictures (Bilder) — in German, though. According to that description it's one pitch of 6b+, two pitches of 6b when free climbed. Otherwise it goes at 5c+/A0. The rest of it is easier. Bolted belays.
This Alpine Conditions page gives a summary of what is being climbed at the moment, what is 'in' nick and what the prospects are...
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