NorthFaces: Gd. Jorasses, Walker Spur (fr)   Renkfälle 

Date:	July 2003
Partner:	Andi Fichtner
Conditions:	Ideal: the face was dry, no snow, no ice. Wore climbing shoes all the way.
Short Comment:	* One of the greatest classics in the Alps * 1800m of alpine north-face rock climbing in a beautiful surrounding
Featured Photo:
Approach	Chamonix -> Montenvers Train (every 20 Min)  -> 2,5h to Leschaux Hut -> 2h to Base of climb, routfinding is simple.   We bivouacked near the wall on the glacier (several big level places)
The Route	The route was very easy to find, the DAV-Guide contained a very accurate topo, I hope they are ok if I put a scan here for the people from other countries that don't know this book. You need crampons and one tool to do the first pitch in the ice (just a few meters, simple) then switch to Rock-Boots for the next 200m then to climbing shoes for the complete rest of the tour. The upper ice-pitches are completely thawed! This leaves an ugly sand-box with all loose rocks, big and small, no place for protection for 100m and its not flat :-( Rocks slide, and they cut one of my ropes. The guidebook advised not to begin the climb in the afternoon because there was more rockfall, but we heard rockfall all day long anyway (only some of it from other parties). Anyway, the bivy places in the route are not especially great (except one high up). We started at 5AM, finished at 8PM.  In general, I found the route nice, but not as overwhelming as expected. It is long,ok, but the rock quality was bad, and the climbing was more a type of scrubbing and rambling compared to 'real' climbing on the Capucin, the Dru or even the Gervasutti Pillar.
Equipment	There are a lot of pitons everywhere, usually in the most logical places, many are rather old.  Belays are usually equipped with ~3 pitons and lots of webbing. They also have rappel rings until the 10m abseil 1/2 up. We only took 3 friends (medium sizes) and a few nuts + 8 quickdraws to save weight. That was absolutely sufficient, as the terrain is not difficult. A light axe and light crampons would be ideal under these dry conditions!
Links	* SummitPost.com - Gd Jorasses Climbing Information * Another Report by Bob Wightman