Climbers forged several bold new lines in the Alps in February and March.
On February 16, Tom Lafaille and Noa Barrau skied a new line on the west face of Aiguille de Mesure. Lafaille recalls being uncertain about their targeted line as they did it on-sight. The photo below shows how precisely they threaded their way down the thinly covered face.
Tom Lafaille’s and Noa Barrau’s ski descent line on the Aiguille de Mesure. Photo: Tom Lafaille
Then, from March 4-6, Tom Livingstone and Robert Smith opened a new 650m route on 3,422m Dent du Requin. According to Livingstone, the difficulty is somewhere in the range of M7, 6b.
The two climbers had two “somewhat comfortable” bivouacs as they inched up a corner of the north face.
“This pointy summit had caught my eye many times, and I wanted hard climbing with an unknown outcome,” recalled Livingstone on his social media.
The duo’s approach was more reminiscent of a big alpine face in the Greater Ranges than a local peak. Livingstone and Smith climbed all pitches on-sight.
Tom Livingstone, left, and Robert Smith on their new route, ‘Shark Attack.’ Photo: Tom Livingstone
On March 7, Giuseppe Vidoni and Francois Cazzanelli opened a new route on the East Face of 3,939m Breche de L’Aiguille Blanche. They graded their 800m route 6c, M7, AI5.
The duo failed on their first attempt due to poor conditions. On March 7, they finally succeeded.
‘Bianco Invisibile’, Francois Cazzanelli and Giuseppe Vidoni’s new route. Photo: Francois Cazzanelli
Pyramide du Tacul
On March 18, Niccolo Bruni, Giovanni Ravizza, and Michele Tixi climbed a new route on Pyramide du Tacul in the Mont Blanc massif. The route, called Ussha, consists of eight pitches with difficulties up to M7+. The route runs parallel to Via Ottoz and shares the last pitch with it.
The following day, Jeff Mercier and Arnaud Bouvard made the first repetition of Ussha.
‘Ussha,’ the new route on the Pyramide du Tacul. Photo: G. Ravizza/N. Bruni/M. Tixi
As we reported earlier this month, Herve Barmasse made the first solo winter traverse of all 17 points of the Grand Sasso d’Italia in the Apennines. And Roger Schaeli, Filippo Sala, and Silvan Schupbach made the first ascent of the north face of 3,237m Punta Pioda in the Swiss Alps.
