UKC

Saturday 22nd May three Italians and one French climber came to 50 meters to close the last great problem left on the Grandes Jorasses SSE Tronchey wall, the "monster wall", and the last great, honest-to-god virgin ice couloir left on Mt. Blanc... and then decided to abseil all the way down to the base when they discovered that the last 50 meters of their 1000m route couldn't be climbed without bolts (which they had deliberately not taken in).

The climb was the one originally sought by Giancarlo Grassi & C. in 1985, when they had to find a different line when they discovered the immense chimney/gully behind the Third Tower of Tronchey was completely dry.

For the news
http://www.thebmc.co.uk/News.aspx?id=3707

For the pictures
http://danielenardi.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/plein-sud/
http://www.iborderline.net/intotherocks/2010/05/nel-cuore-della-muraglia-in...

They still decided to call the "almost" route with a name "Plein Sud", but while they enormously enjoyed the climb, their disappointment for not completing the route was quite palpable when I spoke with two of them. Still, it's an awesome feat, and I must say I find their decision not to force the exit to the summit the best they could have taken (someone else may disagree on that).

So that's it, the fifth ascent of the Tronchey wall... the fifth ascent in 88 years! And every ascent has been by a new route. Quite a record.

In reply to Luca Signorelli:
Luca,

Thank you for posting that; great reading.

Matthew

In reply to Luca Signorelli:
Thanks Luca - it's great to see that self discipline still exists. What an outstanding line and what a fantastic effort.

Good effort. But what have they done on grit?

In reply to unclesamsauntibess:

lol

In reply to Luca Signorelli:

Hi Luca....out of curiosity just wondering where the route is in relation to others:

http://www.camptocamp.org/uploads/images/1268993149_1843923453BI.jpg

my italian isn't great (ie non existent) so just wondering if they bivvied on route or had to carry their gear with them planning to bivvy at the top. Maybe the Ueli Steck approach would work.....are they planning on going back to it?

Awesome effort in an inspiring place anyway.

In reply to Morgan Woods:

It's the other side of the hill, East of the Hirondelles ridge and facing the upper Val Ferret. (Don't know what it's called.)

In reply to Morgan Woods:

It's not a route on the NF of the Grandes Jorasses - it's on a wall on the opposite side (overlooking Italy) of the Jorasses. This wall is the South South East face, or Tronchey wall, as it towers above the Tronchey chalets in Val Ferret, and between the Tronchey and Pra Sec ridges. This is the highest face anywhere on the Jorasses, as it's marginally taller than the North Face.

To give you an idea:
from far away:
http://www.regione.vda.it/gestione/RiviWeb/public/img/rivista4/45/TREVES4.J...
(it's the wall exactly under the vertical of the Jorasses highest summit, the highest you see in this picture)

then a close up
http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/original/3841.jpg
(the little long glacier below is the Pra Sec glacier)

and then a close up from the valley floor
http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/original/49269.jpg
(the 2010 route goes into the shadowy "gash" you see to the right)

and another close up
http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/original/195657.jpg

This face has been extraordinarily little frequented, particularly for such a big wall: only five climbs in 88 years, and always for new routes (in 1923, 1928, 1972, 1985 and 2010). So none of the route has even been repeated.

Hope this may clarify something





They had bivy gear. They original plan was to bivy halfway up, but then they decided to bivy at the base and go in a single push. It not possible to bivy into the top chimney/gully/couloir, as a storm would probably kill you (it collects all the snow, rain and rocks from both "sides" of the chimney). So when they stopped they abseiled down. One of the was to bivy again then try repeating the 1985 route, but in the end they decided to call it a day (never push your luck too far)

In reply to Luca Signorelli: Grazie mille Luca :p

In reply to Luca Signorelli:

Thanks, great read. And what a fantastic line. Wish it was in Scotland where some slush avalanches might bring it into better nick.

In reply to Luca Signorelli:

cheers for that Luca!

lost

In reply to Luca Signorelli:

Inspirational stuff, thanks for posting

Iain

In reply to Luca Signorelli:

Inspiring, thanks Luca.

In reply to Luca Signorelli:

thanks for that,

What has been climbed on that face then? Does a top exist of the other 4 routes?

In reply to Luca Signorelli:

What a monster! Do you think they were expecting the top of the route to hold ice, Luca? Or did they expect a rock wall but were surprised to find no cracks in it? Amazing they couldn't find some way out of it to get around to the top.

In reply to Luca Signorelli:

Yet another irrefutable argument for the Sth side of Mont Blanc! Thanks for posting this, Luca.

In reply to Franco C:
>

I'll post some topo later today.

In reply to Solaris:

I like the idea of an "irrefutable argument" for the S side! Thanks!

In reply to JTM:

Speaking with Marcello and Sergio, what happened was something like - they obiously had no idea what they would have found in the upper gully (as it's completely invisible unless you in there). But they assumed that if some ice was there,a progression would have been possible, and if it was dry, they could have dry tooled it to a certain extent (of course, if the chimneys had been too loose etc they would have simply waited for different conditions).

What they didn't expect and were sincerely surprised to find was that the upper couloir was filled with "bouchons de neige", (snow plugs?) as you well know, they're very common on big routes in the Ecrins, but a comparative rarity on MB. So they had to clean and climb, clean and climb. Near the top they had a close call when a "big one" gave way under Michel feet, triggering loose rock with fell on Marcello, breaking his helmet - for one moment they thought about a casualty, but luckily nothing serious happened beside few bruises. In any case it was a a tense situation, but despite this the climbing apparently was brilliant.

They managed to reach the last pitch, and then, lo and behold, the L side of the chimney disappears, replaced by a 30 meters column of unconsolidated snow. To the R there are blank slabs. So they had two alternatives - climbing the slabs, which were totally unprotectable without bolts (and they have taken none on purpose) OR cleaning the snow column, which would have collapsed on them with obvious results. they tried to find an alternative, but none being available they decided to descend.

By the way, the abseil down must have been quite "interesting" - single nuts, single friends, few pitons, as not even short screws could be placed on the chimney ice.

In reply to Luca Signorelli:


Full rack price for the second ascent! Any takers?

In reply to Mr Lopez:

Just go light & pick up the gear on the way up as needed..

In reply to Luca Signorelli:

Frankly, in a 1000m south facing chimney/couloir at the end of May, I'm surprised only a bit of loose snow collapsed on them...! So, I wonder what the column of snow was hiding... the key, perhaps?

In reply to Franco C:

Here's the topo for the last three routes (1972, 1985 and 2010). I'll make a topo the other two when I've a bit of time (very tired now!)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4050/4651548759_bd8e8c7c1f_b.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4020/4652167588_ea59fcbe18_b.jpg

3-> Gogna-Machetto (Gogna/Machetto, 1972, prob. ED2, 6b, A1, 1400m.). The route was climbed over three days, it's quite stonefall prone and uneven at the start, but above becomes sustained and pleasant (according to Sandro Gogna). They were the first human beings to traverse the small Pra Sec glacier.

4-> ”Direttissima” or “Gianni Comino Memorial Route” or "Phantom Direct"(Grassi/Luzi/Rossi, 1985, VI 6, 90°, 1400m). Giancarlo Grassi original target was the line climbed this year, but when he, Mauro Rossi and Renzo Luzi reached the upper couloir, it was totally dry. So they traversed to the L and continued above, in a single 19 hours push, trying to beat a sudden storm. Giancarlo had already made (since 1979) six attempts to the face, always finding the wrong conditions. Rumoured to have been "nearly" repeated in the 90's by an American (or Brit) team, who had to abort halfway up traversing to the Tronchey ridge.

5-> "Plein Sud" (Appino/Coranotte/De Leo/Sanguineti, 2010, VI 6, WI5, M6+R, 1000 m from the rimaye to 50m below the Third Tower of Tronchey). The line climbed last week.

In reply to JTM:

The line faces south, but the upper couloir sees the sun only few minutes a day, and only after April. The snow plugs thing was quite suprising I believe, but the problem may be that once they're gone, the lower part is completely out of conditions. It's quite a crazy place - when the lower part is OK, the upper half is snow laden and dangerous, when the upper part may be climbed, the lower part is a mess and the glacier is impassable (check this picture of mine if you don't believe it - was taken in July).

http://www.summitpost.org/images/large/333536.jpg

More images from the climb, #4 being particularly impressive

http://www.iborderline.net/intotherocks/2010/05/grandes-jorasses-altre-imma...

In reply to Luca Signorelli:

Another link

http://www.up-climbing.com/en/news/mountaineering/plein-sud-a-new-ice-coulo...

In reply to Luca Signorelli:

Wow, great report - thanks Luca.

I agree - south side of MB is still a place of dragons

In reply to Luca Signorelli:

http://www.planetmountain.com/News/shownews1.lasso?l=1&keyid=37429

Last link related to this "Plein Sud" with Marcello Sanguineti report of the ascent - alas, in Italian.

For those of you that may understand at least a bit of our language, there's, at the end of the page, a link to a brief climbing history of the Jorasse SSE-Tronchey wall (the "monster") I've written at Marcello's request.

A much extended English version of this (with all the saucy details! ) may/could appear in the future for a UK publication.

In reply to Luca Signorelli:


Hey Luca,

Don't spare us - you must know by now that we love saucy details!

All best wishes,

Mick

In reply to Luca Signorelli:

Sergio de Leo has linked few new pictures of the climb, including one showing the highest point reached into the couloir

http://www.sergiodeleo.com/gallery.asp?ShowSub=Grandes%20Jorasses-Plein%20S...

In reply to Luca Signorelli:
Fabulous.
Thanks

In reply to Luca Signorelli:

Yet another link, this time in English

http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?keyid=37433

In reply to Luca Signorelli:
Have I missed something or does that piece on Planetmountain suggest that they finished the route ? - I can't see any mention there that they stopped before the top of the face ("Plein Sud" finishes close to the brèche of the Third (T)ronchey Tower")

In reply to Doug:

They did not, and this piece is just a very hurried translation - and compression - of the longer Italian original, where they had made clear they had not finished the route, and where quite disappointed by this fact.

This is the English translation of Carlo Caccia piece in Intotherocks, with Sergio De Leo interview where he clearly states this point

http://www.iborderline.net/intotherocks/en/2010/06/in-the-heart-of-the-infe...

By the way - "Infernally alive wall" comes from a famous quote of Guido Alberto Rivetti, who was the first to attempt the Tronchey wall in 1923, and nin that occasion wrote - "A wall that seems hellishly alive, trying desperately to resiste the damned effort of the Pra Sec glacier to penetrate its very heart". It's a very accurate description of the wall when it's seen from the Pra Sec ridge - looks like something out of HR Giger work.

I'm aware another team (not Italian) had made an attempt at the same route five days ago, but they didn't even bother to get to the rimaye, as conditions have apparently worsened a lot in one week.

In reply to Luca Signorelli:

Climb report in English from Marcello Sanguineti (with few historical notes taken from my article for Planetmountain) issued by Up-climbing.

http://www.up-climbing.com/en/contributions/mountaineering/grandes-jorasses...

In reply to Luca Signorelli: cheers Luca! what an amazing line! so close yet so far...