Chaîne de Gigondas – Crête du Turc · Dentelles de Montmirail · France
Read the cautionsEasy to bailBolting confidence: medium
A ridge traverse along the knife-edge crest of the highest of the Dentelles, from the Brèche de la Pousterle to the Roc du Turc (627 m): a bolted arête, a pillar, an abseil onto a rock arch above a hole, a steep 5c or 6a pitch and a crest 50 cm wide in places. Lots of rope work and a lot of air for the grade, with escapes on both sides.
Bolted where it is hard, but easy stretches of crest are protected with slings on spikes, and stonefall onto people below is a real concern.
The route
The Gigondas chain is a limestone fin a few metres thick. This traverse follows its highest section from east to west, joining existing single pitches and newly bolted links into one outing of eleven sections, two of them abseils. The climbing is never hard, 5b to 5c with optional harder variants, but the position is exceptional and the day involves constant changes between pitching, abseiling and moving together. It is a different outing from the Traversée des Florets on the next crest east, which is already in the atlas, and the two can be linked. Expect three to four hours on the crest.
The climbing
| Pitch | Grade | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| P1 | 5b | The Arête Lagarde, on glue-in bolts, to a chained belay. |
| P2 | – | Continue along the almost level crest to the foot of the pillar and a chained belay. There are no bolts, but many places for slings. |
| P3 | 4c | Climb the pillar on the crest, on mediocre rock, with many spikes for slings and one bolt at a small shoulder. The chained belay is on the left. Very airy. |
| P4 | – | Abseil from the pillar and land on the arch above the hole; still roped, cross it into the cleft opposite. Belay on two bolts. |
| P5 | 5c | Start on the right above a small bush; the line then divides. On the right, 'Un Baudard pour Deux' is 5c, and a 2025 party found it tiring. On the left, the crack of 'Tranche de Vie' is 6a, which a 2026 party found fine and not hard. Each ends at a chained belay. |
| P6 | – | From the 5c line, climb the narrows on the left (two bolts), follow the crest past a small iron cross and belay on a chain on the right, at the top of the route Régina. From the 6a line, continue above the belay (two bolts), traverse right and climb the narrows. |
| P7 | – | Drop down the south side (a bolt with a blue arrow), traverse west on the south face (one bolt), pass right of a dead tree, climb back into the cleft (one bolt), descend slightly and step onto a sharp arête (a glue-in and a chained belay), then follow the crest slightly left (one bolt) to the top, where a glue-in and a chained belay mark the Voie du Surplomb. You can escape at the dead tree by descending the south face to a chained belay and a 20 m abseil to the path. |
| P8 | – | Follow the crest to the belay of the Dièdre des Parisiens, go down into the cleft on the south side and walk 4 to 5 m. Then either regain the crest (two rusty pegs and a chained belay) and cross a very sharp arête protected by four bolts to a wide ledge and a chained belay, or stay in the cleft, which involves a delicate down-climb. Parties prefer the arête. An escape leads down the south face from the bottom of the cleft, on glue-ins. |
| P9 | 1-2 | Either an easy traverse on the south face on glue-ins, returning right to the crest at the top, or the short 5c+ variant: 10 m along the south face to a bolt before a bush, then a step on the right with three bolts onto a broad crest of good rock, which leads past three more bolts and a glue-in to a chained belay. A 2026 party advises belaying at the foot of the 5c+ step. |
| P10 | – | Abseil to the gap east of the Roc du Turc (the Col de la Voie des Vires). You can walk off easily down the south side here. |
| P11 | 3a | From the gap, move together keeping to the north side, with a few moves of 3 protected by bolts, then along the crest, slightly downhill at first. Finish by a ledge on the north face and a path to the summit of the Turc, or continue along the unbolted crest, with small trees for slings, to an oak that grows horizontally beside an old chained belay. |
Getting there
Reach Gigondas (30 minutes by on-demand bus from Carpentras, which has the nearest railway station) and follow the signs for the Dentelles de Montmirail to the Domaine des Florets. From 1 May to 30 September the track beyond is closed to motor vehicles at the Florets hotel: park in the large car park opposite and walk up the track to the Col du Cayron, 10 to 15 minutes more. The col can also be reached from Beaumes-de-Venise via Lafare, where the track is closed just after the Domaine de Cassan in the same months. Camptocamp's crag page says the col itself is closed to vehicles.
From the Col du Cayron follow the blue-dotted path to the Brèche de la Pousterle. The route starts on the south side of the Arête Lagarde, in the scree just through the brèche, where a glue-in bolt marks the foot. A September 2025 party took 25 minutes from the Florets car park.
Loading map
The point marks the crag, not the exact start of the route.
Point from camptocamp waypoint 43128 (Chaîne de Gigondas)
Contains the route point. 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: 44.15556, 5.02417 (crag)
Getting down
From the summit of the Roc du Turc go down 10 m to the west, then 10 m north (one bolt). A very polished hole leads from the north side to the south into the 'Chambre du Turc', a small cave with a collapsing stone wall. Leave it by an old handrail and red waymarks towards the Brèche du Turc to the west. Then take the blue-dotted path along the south side of the chain, heading east, to the Brèche de la Pousterle and back down to the Col du Cayron. The hole is quickly reached on the right and easy to overshoot (2026 report). A September 2025 party distrusted the rusty handrail and instead abseiled down the south side from a cord-and-maillon anchor 10 m west of the summit. About 20 minutes back to the car park.
Retreat
Easy to bail
Camptocamp lists numerous escapes on the south and north sides and describes three of them: a 20 m abseil from a chained belay below the dead tree on the seventh section, a bolted down-climb of the south face from the cleft on the eighth, and an easy walk down the south side from the gap after the second abseil. Chained belays of single-pitch routes are met all along the crest.
Safety
Sun and weather
The crest runs east to west, rising to 627 m at the Roc du Turc, and catches every wind: camptocamp says to avoid it in a strong mistral. The route alternates between the north and south sides. Reports run from April to November, with early June and late September already hot. Between 15 June and 15 September the Vaucluse massifs can be closed by prefectoral order on days of high fire risk; the decision is published after 18:00 for the next day and there is a fine for being on a closed massif.
Sun on the wall
No estimate: the wall's aspect is not recorded for this route.
Climate figures for Dentelles de Montmirail are not available yet
What to carry
12 quickdraws, two of them long, 4 to 6 slings and a 50 m single rope. A party that took 2×50 m found it cumbersome. In strong wind radios or a loud voice help.
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 Traversée de la Crête du Turc.
Worth knowing
Open questions
Provenance
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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.