Tête d'Aval de Montbrison – Contreforts S · Briançonnais · France
Easy to bailBolting confidence: high
A six-pitch slab and wall climb on the buttresses below the great south face of the Tête d'Aval, on the same grey water-worn limestone but half the height and much more closely bolted. A burly 6c start over a bulge leads to sustained, technical 6b+ and 6a+ walls on small edges. Ledges break the exposure, but the moves are hard for the grade and about 6b is obligatory.
The route
The Contreforts S are the buttresses left of and below the main wall of the Tête d'Aval de Montbrison, above Les Vigneaux. Le Droit à la Paresse takes the centre of the left-hand buttress in six pitches and is the best known of the group of routes Cambon opened there in 2008. It is slab and wall climbing on excellent grippy rock: a physical start through a bulge, then walls on flat holds and small edges where good footwork matters more than strength. It makes a good first visit before the 300 to 500 m routes of the main face, with the same approach but none of their commitment. You abseil the route.
The climbing
| Pitch | Grade | Length | Bolts | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P1 | 6c | 27 m | 12 bolts | The first bolt is high. Strenuous climbing through overhanging ground, a hard mantel, then still technical to a belay at the bottom of a garden ledge. Often wet in spring. A 2024 party noted chipped holds and a glued stud used as a foothold. |
| P2 | 6b+ | – | – | Sustained: a poor-rock corner on flat holds, then round a fingery pillar and up a fine grey wall. Gulliver grades it 6b; a 2024 party thought it worth 6c. |
| P3 | 6b+ | – | – | A balancy 6b+ slab move straight off the belay, then 6a+ up a steep wall on tiny edges. Do not stop at the first belay you pass, which belongs to the abseil line. |
| P4 | 6a+ | – | – | A deceptively thin start, a technical slab, then a steep step split by a slanting crack. Often named the best pitch. |
| P5 | 6a | – | – | Some vegetation, then a technical wall on edges; the rock is more fractured. |
| P6 | 5c+ | – | – | An easier, dirtier pitch to finish. It links with pitch 5 on a 50 m rope if you manage the drag. |
Getting there
From L'Argentière-la-Bessée drive to Les Vigneaux and take the forest track that climbs to the parking place by the water tanks and a huge boulder, near the Barthalay ruins at about 1500 m. A 2020 party drove it in a van. Without a car, parties cycle up from Les Vigneaux; L'Argentière-la-Bessée has a railway station on the Marseille to Briançon line.
About 1 h 15. From the parking follow signs for the Marcellin spring ('Fontaine des Marcelins'), where there is water. About 100 m after the spring take the path that climbs to the right; some 15 minutes later leave it by the first cairned path on the left, which traverses at one level, passes a big block above or below, and crosses a stream bed to reach a ledge with a metal cable. The route starts at a steep line; gulliver places it just before a large forked tree, at a zigzag crack. The slope at the foot is steep: belay the leader until the first bolt is clipped.
Loading map
The point marks the crag, not the exact start of the route.
Parking
Les Vigneaux, Ruines Barthalay: the water-tank parking used for all Tête d'Aval routes (camptocamp waypoint 181243)
Point from camptocamp waypoint 1585626 (Tête d'Aval de Monbrison, Contreforts S)
Contains the route point and parking. Opens in most mapping apps and GPS watches.
Points are compiled from published sources, with the precision stated above. They were not surveyed on the ground: check them against a current topo.
Coordinates: 44.84591, 6.52518 (crag) · Parking: 44.83400, 6.53950
Getting down
By abseil down the line of the route. Camptocamp gives 48 m, 47 m, 40 m to the garden ledge (48 m if you go on to the first belay) and 35 m. A 2022 party describes 50 m from belay 6 to belay 4, 45 m to the station passed on pitch 3, 45 m to a station 5 m right of belay 1, and a last 30 m to the ground. Then reverse the approach.
Retreat
Easy to bail
Abseiling the route is the normal descent and the stations are equipped, so you can retreat from any belay with two ropes. Parties routinely abseil from part-way to switch to the neighbouring route.
Safety
Sun and weather
South to south-east facing at about 2000 to 2200 m. Climbable from May to October; it becomes very hot in summer sun, and in May two wet streaks run down the first pitch after rain. Water is available at the Marcellin spring on the approach. Allow 3 to 4 hours of climbing and about 50 minutes for the abseils.
Sun on the wall · S-facing
Working out the sunlit hours for this month.
Sun on the wallDaylight, wall in shade● Usual season
Estimated from the wall's aspect only. Ignores surrounding terrain, gullies and the wall's exact shape. Clock times are local to the wall (Central European time), for the 15th of each month.
Climate figures for Briançonnais are not available yet
What to carry
2×50 m ropes, about 12 quickdraws (the first pitch has 12 bolts; counts for the others are not published, so carry a couple spare) and slings to link belays. Nothing else: the slabs take no additional protection. Helmet.
Derived from the route data; check it against a current topo
From climbers
Reader reports are not being collected yet. Until they are, check a current topo and the local club or guidebook publisher for recent changes to Le Droit à la Paresse.
Worth knowing
Open questions
Provenance
Same area
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Read the cautions
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Germany · Ammergauer Alpen
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Morocco · Todra Gorge (Todgha)
Six pitches of technical wall and corner climbing one minute from the gorge-entrance guesthouses. Easy pitches alternate with three hard ones, and the 6b+ fourth pitch and the 6c last pitch are precise, footwork-heavy climbing on very rough rock. The route stops in the middle of the wall and you abseil off.
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The right-hand route on the Hannibalturm and the hardest of its plaisir lines. Two slab pitches lead to a layback crack, an awkward overhanging crack and corner, and a bulge above an athletic layback that gives the 6c crux. The first pitch is easy for the grade but boldly bolted.
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Read the cautions
Compiled from published sources and last verified October 2026. Bolts, anchors and access change. Climbing is dangerous and you are responsible for your own decisions: check a current topo and read the disclaimer.