Climbing
Record-setting alpinist Benjamin Védrines, 32, and partner Nicolas Jean recently conquered all four of Mont Blancs incredible faces in an impressive 21 hours. While that accomplishment might be incredible enough, the fact that these two mountaineers conquered the amazing feat in June makes it even more astonishing. Mont Blanc, sitting at an elevation of 15,777 feet, hold snow near its summit year-round. However, the surrounding Italian and French valleys often are melted dry by this time of year.
Skiers are generally forced to take high altitude cable cars if they want to get their turns in this late in the year. The pair of French mountaineers, however decided to earn their turns the old fashion way. The pair began their journey at the base of Chamonix Valley in Les Houches 3,313 feet, covering nearly 24,000 vertical feet throughout the four assents. They carried their skis on their backs for most of the ascent, skinning only the final 900 feet due to the lack of snow in the lower elevation valleys.
Conditions were extremely variable, which is to be expected this time of year. Védrines noted some scary moments while passing under water-dripping seracs on the Brenva face. A major hazard was how unstable the seracs were during the heat of the day. The basic rule of summer alpinism says to begin very early, when temperatures are coolest, and stay away from glaciers during the day. Due to the length of the challenge, the pair had to spend the entire day among broken glaciers. Jean followed up on a social media post, saying, “It was a long day: night, then day. Rock-hard snow, then total slush. We froze, then overheated.” The pair chose to ski down steep ridges as opposed to slopes or valleys in order to seek out the best mid-summer snow conditions, according to explorersweb.com.
After initially summiting, the duo first skied down the extremely technical Peuterey Ridge, combining it with the north face of the Aiguille Blanche de Peuterey. They made their following descents down the Brenva spur (NE) and the west face by De Benedetti Peak. Lastly, after their final summit of the day around 7:30 pm, the pair descended northwest down the Bosses Ridge (the peak’s most commonly taken route) and the north side of the Dome du Gouter, finishing off in Chamonix, according to Alpinemag.
Breaking records on Mont Blanc is nothing new for Vedrines. In May of this year, he set a new speed record climbing the peak from top to bottom in 4 hours and 54 minutes. With all of his recent achievements, it will be interesting what other records Vedrines will smash when the snow begins to fall again in the Alps. Perhaps he will take some much-needed rest in the meantime, as he of all people could use it.
