Grande traversée du Devenson 3ème partie (ou traversée des Ecureuils)

Squirrels Traverse = FR Traversée des Écureuils

Spectacular traverse with big close views of the Sea with dramatic white cliffs. Some interesting climbing sections on fairly sound rock (or perhaps on a tree), also hiking sections on dirt (some very steep + loose).

[b]options[/b]: (A) West to East from Creux de l’Oule to Trou de Serpent. Then further options (A1) return immediately to Belvedere d’En Vau and Col de la Gardiole; or (A2) descend to Calanque d’En Vau, and possibly continue by some interesting route to finish at Port-Miou / Cassis; or (A3) continue the “high” way to visit Breche de Castelvieil and Trou de Canon then return, with further possible option (A4) from Trou de Canon go down then traverse west to the tree with the fixed rope (“monkey bridge” FR “pont de singe”), then return the same way bsck to Trou de Canon - (the point of variant A4 is to visit the tree and do the fun climbing below Trou de Canon without needing to make the big rappel).

(B) West to East from Creux de l’Oule to Trou de Canon (bypass Trou de Serpent). This way makes a big rappel and crosses the tree with the fixed rope (“monkey bridge” FR “pont de singe”). Then further options (B1) return immediately to Belvedere d’En Vau and Col de la Gardiole – with a visit to the Trou de Serpent tunnel along the way; or (B2) descend to Calanque d’En Vau, and possibly continue by some interesting route to finish at Port-Miou / Cassis; or (B3) continue with Traversee Ramond.

(C) East to West from Trou de Serpent to Trou de Canon. This likely requires longer ropes for the initial rappel down from Trou de Serpent to the ledge with the twisted gnaarly pine tree.

[b]approach[/b] (to West end of traverse): From parking at Col de la Gardiole (GPS approx lat/long N43.227 E5.504) - (English-language driving directions in Parking link above) … Walk down the asphalt road (not the dirt road) about 600 meters, first SouthWest then South. At wooden gate just before Maison Forestriere buildings, bear Right onto wide gravel path down 200 meters to a T-intersection. Turn Right onto forest road and go about 1250 meters, first West then SouthWest (to lat/long N43.2149 E5.4943). Turn Right (West) onto forest road then immediate Left onto narrow trail marked Brown - (Alternative is to continue southeast toward Calanque d’En Vau for about 750m then turn Right up to Col de l’Oule).

Next go about 300 meters on narrow Brown trail, first up steep hill (first SouthWest then SouthEast + South). Join a wider trail and go 600 meters on this, first SW, then West, then SouthEast to meet asphalt road by Col de l’Oule (GPS latitude/longitude N43.2102 E5.4913). After about 50 meters on this, turn sharp Right onto GR 51 / GR 98 down hill West about 300 meters. Next leave GR and take sharp Left onto Green trail to go down about 1300 meters, first SouthEast then South. Where trail climbs up to right (N43.2053 E5.4913), leave the Green trail to go Left and continue down the valley about 120 meters (South then SouthEast) toward the Creux de l’Oule.

[b]route[/b] [b]traverse West to East to Trou de Serpent[/b]: If you continued down the valley you would soon reach a big rock cavity or hollow (Creux de l’Oule) which goes down to the Sea. Instead leave the valley a little before (N43.2043 E5.4917) this hollow. The idea is to cross a rib on the East side of the Calanque de l’Oule valley. So turn Left and climb steep dirt up the East side of valley through vegetation, traverse Right a ways, then again steep up East through bushes, to reach a rock on the rib (higher than you might expect). Cross the rib at that rock, then descend near the SE side of the rib at first on rocks (moves of difficulty 3 – some climbers will want the protection of a rope from above) then on dirt, a short ways South down to a bolt. There turn East and make a descending traverse (some moves of 3, two or three more bolts). Then a rising traverse on a beaten dirt trail. Next up 2-3 meters on rock to reach wider ledge, then more traverse East.

Reach a steep rock slab perhaps two meters wide. Traverse across this {difficulty one move of 4a, exposed, with two bolts very close), then immediately up 3-5 meters on rock (difficulty 3, one bolt) to reach a narrow ledge. Traverse on this a short ways to the bottom of a gully of steep dirt. Climb this gully, then continue up slightly diagonally to base of cliffs. Traverse about 30 meters along base of cliffs above large cirque. At the right (East) end of the top of the cirque, climb up brown rock (difficulty 3a, no bolts and no Traditional protection available) to reach a pine tree.

Then descend a steep dirty vegetated gully for roughly 40 meters (possible anchor from pine tree for lowering or belay). Just before bottom of gully, scramble up East onto a little platform. Follow obvious track about 30 meters roughly East to a ledge with a twisted gnarly pine tree.

To continue the traverse to Trou de Canon (option B above), see further route desctription below at [G]

Otherwise, to finish at Trou de Serpent (option A above), as follows: About 3-4 meters to the right (east) of where the trunk of the gnarly tree meets the ground, climb up past a bolt, then traverse Right about 4 meters, than straight up the obvious wide crack (difficulty 4a, two pitons, possible placement of medium friend) about 15-20 meters up to big straight pine tree (optional belay anchor). Then straight up another 20-30 meters (difficulty 3, one bolt) to a wide rock ledge (with one bolt in rock just outside + above the east end of the ledge, and a two-bolt rappel anchor about 20 meters west at the other end of this ledge). (Variation: Some people climb the face Left of the obvious wide crack, but there’s no protection, and the climbing does not lie vertically under the obvious belay anchor station on the top ledge by Trou de Serpent).

Near the east end of this ledge, see a hole down into the floor. This is the west end of the Trou de Serpent. Crawl through the Trou de Serpent tunnel to its east end (GPS latitude/longitude N43.2037 E5.4945), which is on the Petites Escalades route.

return to parking: climb up Petites Escalades route (with some zig-zag) - (one move of 3b with bolt near ledge below and a bolt two or three meters above) to Belvedere d’En Vau plateau. (The point where the Petite Escalade Trail meets the plateau is marked by light-blue paint text “DANGER”.) Walk north on Blue-marked trail (wide gravel) to Col de l’Oule. Return to Col de la Gardiole by the approach route.

[b]traverse from Trou de Serpent to Trou de Canon[/b]: How to reach to the “gnarly pine tree” ledge: Use Petites Escalades route (perhaps a few marking with light blue paint)… after either starting from Col de l’Oule and going down by way of Belvedere d’En Vau (some tricky navigation, and one move of 3b with a bolt two or three meters above and a bolt near ledge below) … Or starting from Calanque d’En Vau and going up by way of Breche de Castelvieil, then horizontal about 50 meters to Right (North). Then climb steep rock: Starts at short narrow crack with a move of difficulty 4 on polished rock (alternate start is in wider break to left, difficulty 4 more sustained). Then more climbing for 15 meters above at difficulty 3. All protectable from a rock horn anchor about 10 meters SouthEast from Trou de Serpent.

Then from the Petites Escalades route … Find the East end of the Trou de Serpent tunnel, a small hole below large pine tree – see photo. Crawl through the Trou de Serpent tunnel and scramble out West end onto a rock ledge. Traverse about 20 meters to west end of ledge to find bolts for rappel anchor, and make a rappel of 40-45 meters (perhaps with some diagonal toward the east) down to ledge with gnarly pine tree. (Or there is a single bolt just to SouthEast of Trou de Serpent west end. Or possibly could down-climb the upper rock gully section (difficulty 3, with an intermediate bolt) to a large straight pine tree, then make a shorter rappel down to the twisted gnarly pine tree).

-> This point can also be reached by doing the Traversee des Ecureuils W->E starting from Creux de l’Oule (see above)

[G] From the “gnarly pine tree ledge … Traverse a short ways East around a little rib to rappel anchor. Make a rappel of 45 meters. If ropes are long enough, try to get close (perhaps diagonal toward the east) to a big pine tree with a fixed rope hanging down from it) - (? or perhaps find a way to break it into two rappels ?). Descend a steep dirt slope diagonally down eastward to reach a big pine tree, and descend a fixed rope hanging from this tree. Make a rising traverse East (some markings of Black paint) then climb straight up on rock a little to reach a gorge about 6 meters wide which arises from the Sea far below.

Cross this gorge on the horizontal trunk of a pine tree, well-protected by a fixed rope above across it - (sometimes called the “monkey bridge” / FR “pont de singe”). Then make a rising traverse to go about 30 meters under the Breche de Castelvieil, and continue traversing until below a couple of chimneys, with a bolt on the rock near the bottom. The correct chimney is the one on the left, about 1 meter to the Right of directly above the bolt. Climb up to the bottom of the chimney (Traversee Ramond begins here) then up the chimney (3b or perhaps 4a, no bolts) up to the Trou de Canon “window”.

[b]Return[/b] (to parking at Col de la Gardiole: Scramble down North (red paint markings) to Breche de Castelvieil. Then the easiest way back is to hike East steep-ish down to Calanque d’En Vau, then take the normal marked hiking trail back North to Col de la Gardiole. More interesting and difficult is to climb the Petites Escalades route (move of 4) first up to Trou de Serpent (optional recommended side-trip is to crawl through the tunnel), and from there follow directions given above to return to Col de l’Oule and Col de la Gardiole.