New Route up East Face of Grandes Jorasses in Alps
Mad Max is a new 800-metre 5.12
The east face of Grandes Jorasses in the Mont Blanc range has a new route thanks to Jérôme Sullivan, Jérémy Brauge and Victor Saucède. They climbed their new 800-metre ED+/7a+ on July 8 and 9.
Mad Max follows a line between a 1942 route first climbed by Giuseppe Gagliardone and Giusto Gervasutti and Little Big Men by Philippe Batoux and Lionel Daudet. It’s named after Max Bonnoit, a climber who made first ascents in the area.
The new alpine rock route follows solid granite cracks and slabs to where it meets the Gervassuti line. From there, they climbed a new free variation avoiding and old A2 pitch. From there, it heads up the Tronchey Ridge to the top of the third tower.
The route was climbed ground-up using trad gear and took only one hand-drilled bolt for the second belay. The wall is subject to a lot of rockfall in summer, but the team said their line is mostly protected.
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