Cascade de l’Oule, WI5+, France

“I’ve been ice climbing around Grenoble for almost 20 years, and for at least 10 years I’ve been dreaming of the day when the waterfalls that flow down off the Saint-Hilaire du Touvet plateau would freeze up. In 2001 a cold spell allowed us to climb a number of beautiful lines, but only the upper portion of Oule Falls froze. The consistent and exceptionally cold temps over the course of recent weeks worked wonders! Every day for the last two weeks I carefully watched how the ice was forming… and then last weekend the time had finally come. Oule Falls was frozen and ready… the only problem was that I could not find a partner for Sunday!”– Erwan Lelann