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In an attempt to make space for the newsworthy ascents that occur with ever-increasing regularity, our weekly news series tries to celebrate a few outstanding climbs (or interesting events) that for one reason or another caught our attention. We hope you enjoy it. —The editors
Bon Voyage (ungraded, nails) isn’t actually that safe
“Sometimes we get things wrong!” began James Pearson in a recent IG post. Pearson was, thankfully, not talking about a mis-grading of his striking new route Bon Voyage in Annot, France. (For reasons that we won’t get into here, Pearson has faced criticism for over-grading his routes before and chose not to whittle Bon Voyage down to a mere number.) But Pearson, this time, had severely underestimated the danger factor of his new line.
Pearson sent Bon Voyage in February and returned last month to redo sections of it for an upcoming film. He was happy to hop on the more photogenic sections of the climb (i.e. massively runout) since he believed the falls to be safe—if a bit airy. He’d even joked that Bon Voyage was the perfect trad route for a strong sport climber with a cool head. But as Pearson fumbled the penultimate crux move—a move he’d fallen off before, albeit with a heavier belayer—he came screaming past a “guillotine-like ledge.” Even more worrisome, Pearson wrote, was the fact that several hard moves remained—each putting the climber more directly in the sights of the bone-snapping feature.
“I can’t say how dangerous the next moves are because I have (luckily) never tested that fall,” Pearson wrote, “but after my last experience I’m no longer comfortable telling people the route is safe.” But Pearson’s revelations weren’t surprising to some. Robbie Phillips, who, along with Seb Berthe, recently redpointed Le Voyage (the lite version of BV) route, wrote: “That’s really interesting. Me and [Berthe] both thought it looked well dodgy with that massive feature beneath you … it didn’t seem very safe to us.” —Anthony Walsh
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The legendary Christophe Profit pulls safety gear from Mont Blanc’s trade route
Retro-bolting isn’t a particularly new conversation in the climbing world, nor is the chopping of said bolts when a crew of vigilantes deems them unsightly. But some news from the flanks of Europe’s tallest peak captured my attention last week, when I heard about a guide removing safety equipment from Mont Blanc’s Goûter Route.
According to an article by Explorersweb, the Goûter Route is one of the easiest lines up the mountain but new gaping crevasses have increased its objective hazard. Long iron stakes were hammered into the ridge, by order of the Saint-Gervais mayor Jean-Marc Peillex, in an effort to provide security to beginner and intermediate mountaineers who may not know how to safely navigate the new terrain.
But Profit, a Chamonix guide, told the French outlet 20 minutes that iron stakes and other in-situ safety equipment only spur novice climbers blindly forward. “I removed these stakes to prevent amateur mountaineers … from taking unnecessary risks.” Profit said. “There [is] a possible alternative route.”
Shortly after removing the stakes, Profit reportedly emailed the mayor’s office to claim responsibility. Mayor Peillex’s office swiftly pressed charges of theft and endangerment of life—though the prosecution only chose to pursue the former. Profit’s case will conclude on June 5. —AW
Alaska’s Blood from the Stone finally repeated
In March 2002, Sean Easton and a 26-year-old Ueli Steck made a wild first ascent on the 5,000-foot East Face of Mt. Dickey: Blood From the Stone (A1 WI 6 X M7+). The line—which, on the FA, forced a lead fall by both climbers by pitch three—saw its reputation grow immensely over the following 21 years, and has only now received a repeat by Matt Cornell, Rob Smith, and Sam Hennessey.
On Instagram, Smith wrote about his very first trip to the Alaska Range in 2005. He and the late Brian Teale camped under Dickey’s East Face and peered up at the line. “I gave myself a very specific goal of trying to repeat this line someday,” Smith wrote. “This was by far the highest quality route I have ever climbed in my life. I will forever be grateful to Matt and Sam for this experience.”
Smith made headlines with Hennessy and Michael Gardner last year, in June, after dashing up the truly massive Slovak Direct (VI 5.9 X WI 6 A2 M6+; 9,000ft) in just 17 hours and 10 minutes. Cornell, too, turned heads two weeks earlier, setting the then-speed record on the same route with Jackson Marvell and Alan Rousseau. (And, just one month ago, Cornell and his partners ticked a new route on Dickey’s East Face: Aim for the Bushes (VI AI 6 M6 X; 5,250ft). For my part, I’m psyched to see what any of these six get up to next. —AW
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Is this America’s Best 5.14c?
Judging by its number of ascents—at least 44—Southern Smoke, in the Red River Gorge, may very well be. Everyone and their mom seems to have sent it. In fact, just last week 13-year-old Maya Ene added her name to the list, which includes seasoned pros like Colin Duffy, Jonathan Siegrist, Stefano Ghisolfi, and, weirdly, tons of children. Bayes Wilder sent the route at 10; Kai Lightner at 13; Brooke Raboutou at age 14; Harry Edwards at age 12; and Ashima Shiraishi sent it at 11. The route has had so many ascents, that, in 2017, this very magazine published a “cross-section” of the climbers who had thus far ticked it. Suffice it to say, it was and still is an impressive sample.
All of the sendage does beg the question: is the route that good, or … is it soft? Perhaps a bit of both, although most climbers on 8a have logged it as solid for the grade. Just take a look at the dang thing and you’ll really understand why it’s so popular—it’s a classic Red route with a smattering of golden pockets that are stylistically suited for climbers of any size and resemble those air bubbles on a cooking pancake right before it’s time to give ‘er a flip. It’s downright enticing and approachable. Joe Kinder developed and FA’d the line in 2008. He told Climbing: “I couldn’t believe it hadn’t been bolted. To me, the direct line [a start to the already-established Ultra-Perm (5.13d)] was the most profound thing I had seen in the Red at the time.”
A quick note on Maya: She’s a climber to watch! The kid sent Lethal Design (V12) in Red Rock just a few months ago. Her family owns a climbing gym in New Jersey and her father and coach, Ionel, is a former World Cup competitor. Not to draw comparisons too soon, but sound like anyone you know? —Delaney Miller