Ingenious teams continue to open new routes on classic faces in the Alps where, at first sight, everything has already been done. Last week, Arthur Pointdefert, Pierre Girot, Hugo Peruzzo, and Kilian Moni of France climbed a new line on the legendary North Face of the Grandes Jorases (Mont Blanc Massif) by using a trick: looking for apparently “unclimbable” sections.
“In the Grandes Jorasses, finding a line without crossing another route isn’t so easy; that’s also what makes this mountain so fascinating,” the four young members of the GEAN (National Mountaineering Excellence Group), reported. “Our idea came precisely from one of the steepest bastions of the face, in an area so overhanging that, from below, nothing seemed truly feasible.”
Three days and a storm
The team completed the 1,100m climb between April 3 and 6, on their second attempt after a first try in December. After one night at the base of the face, they hauled themselves to their previously reached high point. Here, they set their first bivy night on portaledges.
“The next day, after an unpleasant night, we woke up with soaked sleeping bags and a portaledge already riddled with holes, but we decided it was worth the risk and set off again,” they wrote.
From that point, they climbed in completely unknown and progressively steep terrain. As they told Montagnes.com, the climb was harder and scarier than they had envisioned, due to the technical difficulties and also to the snowstorm that hit them during their second night on the wall. Spindrift fell on them constantly while high winds buffeted their portaledges.
The following day, despite the fresh snow, they climbed at a good pace until they reached the summit of Point Whymper (4,184m), after overcoming difficulties up to M7, A3. They called the new route Jorassique Pâques (“Jorassic Easter”).
