Winter Trip on the Premier Wall

ON 16-19 MARCH 2010 FRENCH SÉBASTIEN BOHIN, SÉBASTIEN RATEL AND CÉDRIC PÉRILLAT CLIMBED MANITUA (1100 m, 6c, A3+, 70°) ON THE CROZ SPUR ON THE NORTH FACE OF GRANDES JORASSES

There are faces and faces. The North face of the Grandes Jorasses (4206 m, Mont Blanc) belongs to the highest class, for many reason. A five-star wall, according to Valery Babanov the best: «It is severe and secluded. It strikes for its size and commands respect. To climb that is always a challenge, expecially in wintertime. I believe it is impossible not to fall in love with that face, it can try every alpinist’s experience». Valery soloed up there three times. The last one was from the 16^th to the 27^th of July 1999, putting up the extremely diffucult Eldorado (1200 m, 6b, A3/A4, 90°) on Pointe Whymper. According to Stéphane Benoîst and Patrice Glairon-Rappaz, who climbed the North face uncountable times, in every season, Eldorado shares the record of hardest line in the wall together with the Directe de l’Amitité (Yannick Seigneur, Louis Audoubert, Michel Feuillarade and Marc Galy, 19-27 January 1974, 1200 m, 6a, A4, M5/M6 and 55°) and Manitua (Slavko Svetičič solo, 8-10 July 1991, 1100 m, 6c, A3+ and 70°). In short: on the one hand, there is a route put up in wintertime by home-players as a siege, on the other hand there are two lines soloed by a couple of visionaries from the East.

All this was a preamble to say that from the 16^th to the 19^th of March 2010 Manitua indeed – taking place on the left side of the Croz Spur, on the big rock shelf – was climbed in third winter ascent by French Sébastien Bohin, Sébastien Ratel and Cédric Périllat. They are three members of GMHM (Groupe Militaire de Haute Montagne), which from the first winter ascent of the Peters-Meier by Jean-Claude Marmier and Georges Nominé on the same Croz Spur (10-13 February 1971) keeps more alive than ever the glorious – and frosty…! – tradition on the Grandes Jorasses.
Bohin and fellows – with a 75 kg baggage among supplies for five days and climbing gear, everything shared out in three 25 kg haulage bags – attacked to the route at 2 p.m. of Tuesday the 16^th. On the first day, after having climbed 350 meters of mixed terrain – delicate rather than treacherous, also because of the big bags – the three companions reached the rocky bulwark’s base and were forced to bivouac sitting on makeshift steps put together at the moment, because of the lack of snow. On March the 17^th everybody up at 4.30 a.m. to begin with the toughest part of the ascent: different lenghts of rope, which in wintertime call for a slow and arduous artificial climbing. So, all day long the team managed to gain only 200 meters, getting to the big loose flake that granted them a more comfortable night than the previous one (to understand, see www.vimeo.com/10352087). On the third day, 200 meters of hard climbing further on, our characters left behind the great “shelf” and at 9 p.m , after four hours of struggling to find out the key-pitch – leaded by Périllat, who did not want to replace a damaged bolt so had to work hard on a piton and a hook that was hooked to nothing… – gathered for the third bivouac. On March the 19^th, as they noticed a few signals of bad weather coming up, the three climbers put all their efforts in reaching the edge despite the tiredness and at 5 p.m. they were up there, ready to descend towards the Boccalatte refuge – where they got to at 10.30 p.m. after a descent partially in the dark, in fresh snow and among crevasses, complete with a ripper – 10 meters and much fear – of Périllat in one of the potholes.

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Cover photo. Winter wonder: the North face of the Grandes Jorasses (4206 m). In the middle of the face, the Croz Spur: on the left of the edge, the rock shelf where Manitua goes up (www.summitpost.org)

Photo 1. Slow and patient artificial climbing along the difficult central section of Manitua (www.gmhm.terre.defense.gouv.fr)

Photo 2. Winter vertigo on the rocky bulwark of the Croz Spur (www.gmhm.terre.defense.gouv.fr)

Photo 3. The face with the Manitua route and Bohin and fellow’s bivouacs (www.gmhm.terre.defense.gouv.fr)

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Italian version (full text)

www.iborderline.net/intotherocks/2010/03/viaggio-invernale-sulla-parete-regina

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iBorderline.net // Traduzione di Anna Zuccaro