The Barre de la Lèche is a south-facing band of excellent gneiss at about 1800 m above Le Boréon, in the Vésubie valley on the edge of the Mercantour National Park. It was equipped by local guides and rebolted from 2015 by the Alpes-Maritimes FFME committee with glue-in bolts, and its multipitch routes run 100 to 170 m. Base yourself in Saint-Martin-Vésubie, about 1 h 15 by road from Nice, then drive up to Le Boréon and the Salèse road; the approach from the winter car park takes about 20 minutes. The season runs from about June to October; early in the season snow patches can linger in the approach gully and on the central ledge.
GuidebookLa Verticalité en Vésubie-Valdeblore, FFME et Comité territorial des Alpes-Maritimes (2017, FFME Comité territorial des Alpes-Maritimes). Buy from kletterfuehrer.net. The route pages here are aggregated by AI from public sources; climb with the guidebook.
Loading map
Barre de la Lèche above Le Boréon · 1,895 m
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun (usual season) | Jul (usual season) | Aug (usual season) | Sep (usual season) | Oct (usual season) | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean daily high °C | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 5 | 1 |
| Mean daily low °C | −7 | −7 | −5 | −2 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 3 | −3 | −6 |
| Rain days 1 mm or more | 8 | 7 | 9 | 13 | 18 | 18 | 15 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 9 |
● usual season. 1991-2020 averages at about 1895 m; rain is for a 10–25 km grid cell. Weather and climate data: Open-Meteo, CC BY 4.0.
France · Vésubie (Le Boréon)
The best easy multipitch at the Barre de la Lèche: eight pitches of slabs and short walls on rough mountain gneiss above Le Boréon, very well bolted. A good first route for newcomers to multipitch climbing, with a stiffer pair of 5c pitches low down.
5cVI5.95cVI5.98 pitches170 m
France · Vésubie (Le Boréon)
The harder companion to La Dalle à Delphin: two steep, athletic 6b pitches low down, a black wall and a bouldery overhang, then easy ground and two fine short pitches to the top of the Barre de la Lèche.
6bVII5.10c6bVII5.10c6 pitches150 m