UKC

Tom Livingstone recalls his attempts to make the first free ascent of the Voie des Guides on the Petit Dru above Chamonix, and reflects on playing a 'pointless game' of alpinism with arbitrary rules and lucky chance...

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Great read, this bit in particular was quite evocative

Strong dreadlock scenes...

I think that title image needs a bit of an edit!

Really enjoyed reading that. To go with the FA ascent photo and Tom's photo, here is my photo of Jerry Gore on the traverse during a three day (non-free!) summer ascent in 1988. Also a photo of me sporting Ron Hills above the then less shrunken niche. All we had to go on was the FA description from the AC guidebook and a rumour that a major rockfall had affected the route above the niche (it hadn't).

Great read. Would be even better to heard about the decent too, afterall, they're only halfway through the adventure once they've reached the summit! Did they decend the same way they came up? Is it even feasible to do that given their tagline and haul bags had been hanging in the abyss on the ascent? Did they have to bivvi again? Is there an easier route back down? 

I expect they descended the normal route which, although not to be taken lightly, is simple enough for these guys.