Skier Descends Famous Chamonix North Face
Guillaume Pierrel has made a rare descent of a classic north-facing feature. The first person to do it was nearly 40 years ago and they parachuted onto the mountain
Guillaume Pierrel has descended the north face of the Drus near Chamonix in a 16-hour round-trip by skiing a snowfield called the Niche and rappelling several vertical walls. The slope is never much steeper than 50 degrees, but the risks are high.
Pierrel accessed the 250-metre-long Niche by climbing 16 pitches of the original route up the north face, which was done in summer 1935 by Pierre Allain and Raymond Leininger. Pierrel’s partner for the climb was Etienne Potof, a highly experienced local alpinist. Pierrel left Potof at the base of the Niche as he climbed it alone before skiing. In 2022, Pierrel skied the Le Linceul Couloir on the Grandes Jorasses.
In 1986, Bruno Gouvy snowboarded the Niche after skydiving onto the summit of the Drus and rappelling into it. He then stopped at the bottom of the Niche and paraglided to the valley below. Watch Gouvy’s descent below. Two seasons later, he used a helicopter to access and ski the Matterhorn, Eiger and Grandes Jorasses in a single day. Tragically, he lost his life a few years later at only 27 years old after falling on another Chamonix peak.
Pierrel is the first person to use skis to descend the Niche, something that might not be repeated often as conditions rarely come into condition to attempt such a feat.
1986 Descent
Check out the latest buyer's guide:
