Pietro Vidi has made the second ascent of Charles Albert's L’Ombre du Voyageur (f9A) in Salève, Haute-Savoie, in the French Prealps.
First climbed by Albert in November 2023 after more than sixty sessions, he deliberated over the grade for some time, due to both the length of the problem and his choice to climb it in his preferred style, barefoot and without kneepads.
In the end, Albert proposed 9A, believing that the boulder was closer to 9A+ when climbed in his chosen style, but understanding that climbing shoes and kneepads would undoubtedly have made it easier.
Reporting on the ascent at the time, Grimper magazine shared that Albert 'considers it unthinkable, even while scraping heel hooks and jamm[ing] knees, that this long ceiling is of comparable difficulty to the 8C+ that he knows'.
Pietro Vidi, who has nine ascents at 8C and above, went 'full rubber mode' during his time on the route, opting to use climbing shoes, crack gloves, and four knee pads. He climbed the problem in just three sessions.
'Definitely climbed something completely different than what Charles did', Vidi said on Instagram, 'there's no doubt that what he climbed was incredibly hard and he definitely did some extraordinary athletic achievement doing it the way he did, but with some trickery this rig just becomes so much easier'.
Albert on an unsuccessful attempt.
'The boulder still is pretty damn good (would have never thought to say that about a limestone line), packing crack techniques, hard knees and physical moves, for sure one of the most unique lines I've climbed!'
Vidi's suggestion of 8B+ for L'Ombre du Voyageur is the second time that a 9A proposal of Albert's has been downgraded. In 2019, Albert proposed 9A for his Rocher Brûlé project No Kpote Only (f8C+), a problem that was one of just two 9A's in the world at the time, alongside Burden of Dreams.
Subsequent ascents of No Kpote Only from Ryohei Kameyama and Nico Pelorson, both of whom used climbing shoes during their ascents, saw proposals of 8C+ and 8C respectively.
Comments
That's a pretty savage downgrade.
Shoes, pads, kneepads, chalk, 27 Makita Fans.
Easy 🤣
Yes it is. But it must be easier using shoes, pads and with taped up hands. Not that there is anything wrong with using any of of those, but it must be harder without those.
There is no way I would have climbed what I have in bare feet. Some of the long tufa routes in Saint Leger or Chulilla would definitely have been harder and more sustained without pads.
The good thing is, this news article gives everyone a moment to reflect on the fact that rock climbing (as opposed to competition/indoor climbing) is not about performance, but a cultural/spiritual activity that is much more about style and the climber's experience than about difficulty or grade. Charles gets that. He’s one of the few at the top who consistently shows that style and intention matter.
What’s actually “savage” here is how a second ascent can be done in significantly worse style than the first—and people mostly notice the "downgrade".
Props to Pietro for at least being upfront about the style gap... This kind of thing happens on big walls all the time—difference is, almost none of it ends up on UKC.
But if, despite knowing better, we’re interested in who’s the “better climber,” we shouldn't look at grades / outdoor "achievements". Try watching a competition—or, better yet, a whole season of them—where people operate under the same rules, with actual stakes, and “better” means something measurable.
The film about him was chock full of that sort of pretentious twaddle as well.