Climbing at the Big Jorosses
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With light packs, we skin up toward the wall. Just ahead of me is Christophe Dumarest. Christophe is young, twenty-six, with two routes on the north face already to his credit. He is a student of mine in the Groupe Espoir, a group of young climbers that I instruct for the Club Alpin Français. Talented and highly motivated, he is a good sport climber, but in the alpine environment he is still learning. In February 2004 Christophe and I, with Guillaume Avrisani, made the second ascent of the Lafaille Route on the Petit Drus.
At the top of one of his pitches, Christophe set up a belay, but when I hauled the packs, one of the belay pitons popped out, followed by half an Alien. Guillaume was jugging a rope fixed to the belay at the time. It was the most terrifying moment in my climbing life. Behind me is Gab-Patrick Gabarrou. In some ways, Gab has taught me to climb. At fifty-four, he is twenty years older than I am, with more first ascents to his credit in the Alps than anyone else has.
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Philippe Batoux
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The north face of the Grandes Jorasses:
March 21, 2005. One hundred and ten meters beneath the summit of the Pointe Margarita, Christophe climbs free, from granite flake to granite flake, trying his best to avoid the ice. In spite of the polar weather, he has removed his gloves to crimp, and has to stop frequently to re-warm his hands.
The wall is less steep now. The smooth, featureless wall has given way to a system of slabs and grey, granite blocks set like relics in the ice. Christophe follows our recommendations and sets the anchor some ten meters to the left to avoid rock fall when we haul the bags. The cracks are filled with ice; the cams won't stay, so he places a piton. When he fixes the rope, I start to jug, guiding the haul bags as I go.
The summit is close; all three of us are impatient to reach it. We have been climbing in shadow for five days. Above us, the summit arête glows in sunlight. Soon we will be warm again. I'm deeply happy. The climbing has gone well; we've made all the right choices. Soon we'll finish a beautiful line, on a virgin face, a route complete with mixed sections, ice and rock, free and aid..... But in a few hours, it will be night, and it will become much more complicated to find our way down. We mustn't waste time. Below, at the belay, Gab leans forward to coil the 100-meter static rope.
Suddenly, I hear a cry. Gab is doubled over, one gloved hand across his back. A sharp pain has ripped through his back as if a dagger had travelled across his spinal column.
A rock has fallen from no one knows where. No one saw it or heard it. We've been on the face for five days; other than the loose blocks and flakes along our route, we haven't seen a single rock fall. It's incomprehensible. "I'm OK!" Gab calls out, in response to our concerns. "I can keep going." As long it stays warm, the pain will be bearable.
Eventually, he joins us. The rock has hit him directly in the spine. "I'm experiencing some curious sensations," he gasps. Patrick was not really hurting; he was more scared to have a serious injury in the spine, he was afraid to become paraplegic.
The story is written about "Grandes Jorasses" attempt last year by Philippe Batoux using Suunto X9.
Philippe Batoux got an award from Cristal FFME 2006 for the "Heidi route being opened".
FFME = Fédération Française de Montagne et Escalade (Mountain Climbing French Federation)
"Heidi route" was opened in March 2005 by 2 mountain guides in the north face of Grandes Jorasses Mountain (France). For this recent ascent, Philippe Batoux and his team-mate were awarded by the FFME crystal => corresponding to the best ascent of the year in the Alps.
Summary: Heidi (VI 5.10a WI4R
M5+ A3, 850m). The north face of
Pointe Margarita, March 17-March
21, 2005, Patrick Batoux, Christophe
Dumarest, Patrick Gabarrou.
www.philippebatoux.com
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