Climbers Wear Skis on Their Backs on New Alpine Climb
The M6 AI5 was established in the Mont Blanc massif in a quick time up and down
Italian climbers François Cazzanelli and Giuseppe Vidoni have made the first ascent of Combo on the northeast face of Mont Greuvettaz in the Mont Blanc massif.
They climbed their new 600-metre route, which they graded M6 AI5, with skis on their backs in a round-trip time of 9.5 hours. Cazzanelli knows the area well, as he’s climbed two other new routes on the same peak: Tempest and Centocinquanta.
“Our idea was to climb fast and light, carrying skis in order to descend easily down the opposite side, Cazzanelli said. “It turned into an amazing adventure where we combined skiing and alpinism, leveraging our versatility once again. What a combo!”
There have been over two dozen technical new alpine routes opened over the past few months in the Alps. We’ll have a full breakdown in the next issue of Gripped magazine.
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