![](templates/subSilver/images/full_size.gif) Poster: A snowHead
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Yeah I know it’s not ski-ing, but it is summertime, and figure there might be many people on here that do winters and summers in the alps!
Wondering what the via ferrata is like in Avoriaz, and ideally compared to the one in Saint Jean d'Aulps.
Thinking of taking my son, we did the one in St Jean and he found that fine, then we did the one in Samoen but he found that trickier as some holds were quite a reach, and a few of the pegs were “slanty”. He probably could have done it, but no point pushing if they aren’t enjoying it, so we took one of the escape routes on this one.
So wondering how the Avoriaz one compares to these two.
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![](templates/subSilver/images/full_size.gif) Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I have done lots of ferrata but sadly not this one. It was closed for a long time. Part of it looks quite straightforward at AD grade. The rest looks like D+ which can be challenging and the same as the Tete d’Elephant. The Via du Mont in Samoens is rated AD.
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![](templates/subSilver/images/full_size.gif) Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Interesting that the Via du Mont is rated AD and Tête d’Elephant is rated D+. We (more accurately my son) found the Tete reasonably straightforward, but struggled on hold spacing on via du Mont.
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Sometimes the grading is based more on the steepness rather than the stemple spacing. For example a long overhanging section may have the stemples close together and be D+ but a slab may have you relying more on natural rock spacing and be an AD. Different people also have different perceptions of the difficulty of climbs.
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![](templates/subSilver/images/full_size.gif) Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Also depends on the location and exposure to weather, here in Serre Chevalier we have one, L'Aiguilette du Lauzet which is relatively simple but graded D due to it taking 4-5hrs in total and the possibility of the weather changing significantly in that time.......
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@KenX, a lovely day out though. I liked it
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@ish303, You may be right about the Tête d’Elephant being relatively straightforward. I just looked at the https://www.viaferrata-fr.net website and the users gradings were as follows
F 4%
PD 8%
AD 44%
D 44%
Some comments were about the excessive number of stemples on the route (having them too close together can be more tiring than too far apart).
The alternative route Voie de l'Oeil looks like it may be a bit more challenging.
I cannot give much more information because I've left my via ferrata guide books in France.
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We did the Avoriaz one a few years ago, and I don't remember it being that hard, the kids (probably early teenagers at that point?) didn't have a problem. It is essentially a traverse, so it doesn't have the vertigo factor that the St Jean one does.
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