Epic Alpine Big Wall Climb Over Seven Days
There have been several major alpine ascents completed in Europe this winter, but this might be the most incredible
In early January, over seven days of climbing on Petit Dru, Philippe Bruley, Amaury Fouillade and Baptiste Obino made the first ascent of a 1,000-metre big wall route called Petit Pont, graded ED M5 6a A3.
Their line climbs next to BASE, a route established in 2021 by Thomas Auvaro, Leo Billon, Jordi Noguere and Sebastien Ratel, a 1,000-metre M8+ 5.11+, which took five days. They used webcams at the Montenvers train station to livestream some of their first ascent. They climbed it at the same time that Korra Pesce and Will Sim made the likely third ascent of the Southwest Pillar, which you can read about here.
Where Petit Pont and BASE climb once stood a number of routes, including Bonatti Pillar, first climbed in 1955 by Walter Bonatti. It collapsed in sections in 2003, 2005 and 2011. The rockfall also took out the 1965 American Diretissima by John Harlin and Royal Robbins.
The first ascent team of Petit Pont have just released a video of their climb, which you can watch below.
