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6/24 Le Pilier des Ecureuils

At 270m, Le Pilier des Ecureuils (6b+,6a,6b,6b+,6a,5c,5b.c, 270m, #375, p.193) is the longest sport route at Verdon and can be found in the Ecureuils Sector of L'Escales. The name means "Piler of Squirels" and is almost all steming and chimney climbing. By the end of the route, our hands were hardly tired, but our feet and calves were burned. We climbed from about 1pm to 8pm. The rapel along Les Dalles Grises took about 1.5 hours. The route is segmented into two parts by the Jardin des Ecureuils, a very large, tree-covered ledge about two-thirds of the way down, with the first three pitches below. Amos led the first pitch. A few notes on the pitches:

6b+: one awkward move, but otherwise straightforward

6a: --

6b: Lots of rope drag on lead. Climbing two parallel cracks was fun. Ends at the jardin.

6b+: Very nice chimney. The topo in both our guides was wrong, since the belay station is before the route moves laterally to the right.

6a: Super long (approx 52m), very nice pitch. We nearly came to the end of our 55m ropes!

5c: Chimney, with some widely-spaced bolts.

5b.c: Ends with trees, dirt, and scrambling.

Routefinding on the way down in Le Jardin des Ecureuils

My glasses!

Preparing to rapel

Hat head at the base of the cliff

Hang belays feel o so good (about 3 hours into the route)

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