Benjamin Vedrines will again attempt to open a route on the north face of Jannu East with Nicolas Jean. The magnitude of the challenge is so huge that the peak they have chosen for their preparatory climb is — K2.
Considering the relentless pace that Vedrines and Jean have kept over the last few weeks — most recently, they climbed and skied the four faces of Mont Blanc — we wondered if the French stars were planning something big in the Himalaya. Indeed, they were. The formidable north face of 7,710m Jannu East remains unclimbed despite many attempts, including theirs last year.
“This peak fascinates us. It’s beautiful, remote, tough to climb,” Vedrines wrote on social media about Jannu East.
The second day of last year’s climb. Photo: Benjamin Vedrines/Instagram
Fell under the spell
The two climbers — Jean is 27 and Vedrines turned 32 two days ago — tackled the challenge last fall, together with good friend and fellow member of the new generation of top French alpinists, Leo Billon. From the first, they fell under the spell of the legendary north face of Jannu East, one of the biggest and most difficult in the Himalaya. Their goal was to open a new route, not to the main summit, but to the 7,468m eastern point of the Jannu massif, which remains unclimbed.
The north side of Jannu, with the main and eastern points marked. Photo: Pablo Sarjanovich
The trio climbed fast until 7,600m. There, Billon suddenly showed symptoms of cerebral edema. Vedrines, who had experienced the affliction himself on K2 two years earlier, immediately aborted the attempt. The three friends had previously decided that if one of them turned around, all would. (Check their expedition summary in the video below:)
“We promised we would return for a last attempt in September 2025,” Vedrines said. Which brings us to their current expedition.
Their training peak
“For training, I’ll use K2,” Vedrines said. Assigning the second-highest peak on Earth as a preparatory climb may sound crazy, but Vedrines did the same last year, with impressive results. He climbed K2 independently and without supplementary oxygen in a Fastest Known Time of 11 hours from Base Camp to summit. He then paraglided down from the top. After he landed, he still had time to return to Camp 2 to pick up his tent and to help another climber in distress.
Benjamin Vedrines in K2 Base Camp after flying down from Camp 2. Photo: @sebmontazstudio
A third member?
Such a big face is usually tackled in teams of three. So will a third member join them? Leo Billon is himself frantically active in the Alps, but so far, there is no mention of him coming.
However, Vedrines did invite someone else: American Sam Hennessey, who politely declined, Hennessey told ExplorersWeb.
Sam Hennessey, left, and Mike Gardner. Photo: Mike Gardner/Instagram
Hennessey had attempted to open a new route up the north face of Jannu East for the last three years. He was there last fall with regular climbing partner Mike Gardner when the French team showed up in Base Camp with the same plan. The two teams were following different lines when tragedy struck. Mike Gardner fell to his death from the bivouac where the two climbers were resting.
“As of now, I don’t have plans to return to Jannu…for a variety of reasons,” said Hennessey, currently guiding in the Alps after a stint of climbing in Alaska. Hennessey rejects any suggestion that he is competing with Vedrines’ team for this first ascent.
“[The French team] has every right to do so, of course, [but] having some sort of competition around alpinism is contrary to all the reasons why I find it appealing,” Hennessey said.
