Samaya x Kilian Moni
FIRST REHEARSAL OF COEUR DE GÉANT
After the first opening of Coeur de Géant in 2014 by Jonathan Charlet, Christopher Baud and Brice Bouillanne, it had never been repeated. In June 2023, Kilian Moni, accompanied by Arthur Poindefert and Mathis Garayt, successfully completed the first repeat of this route. Kilian tells us about their expedition.
No one had been back to do Coeur de Géant since it opened, so what prompted you to go?
Kilian Moni: My rope-mate Arthur and I found this magnificent line, which had only been climbed once before and about which we could find no information on the net, nothing at all, so we were immediately attracted. We got in touch with the three openers, who promised us some magnificent mixed climbing and finally convinced us to go for it!
How did your ascent go?
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KM : We didn't take exactly the same approach as when we opened, because the glacier had moved in the meantime. We went through a small snow couloir, much further to the right than the openers. When we reached the foot of the face, we weren't sure which way to go. The glacier had shrunk and retreated, adding a really difficult first pitch. We opted for a small 5c variation to avoid this difficulty and ended up on a magnificent 150-metre-high gully, in which we did 3 pitches on perfect ice and snow. It was going too well, especially for June! We then traversed a route about 580 meters long, rated ED, M6+/M7, 4+ in ice and 5c in climbing.
After this crossing, you had to pass through a more exposed area. How did you cope with this?
KM: Indeed, we then came to a crack about 40 cm wide, rated M6+7, which Arthur felt like starting in. After the crack, we found ourselves with an area of loose rock just above us. We assumed there'd been a landslide, so we bypassed it to go through a small dihedral, with a superb rock, a thread of ice at the bottom and lots of gas. We were able to recover the north ridge, on which we found a lot of snow and ice, and which we had to climb with crampons. At this point, we still had 4 pitches of anthology left. On the edge of the ridge, we had 500 meters of gas on the left, the whole valley extension, the sea of ice on the right, Mont Blanc in the background behind us, and we were all alone to enjoy ourselves in the cracks. Then we came to the last pitch, with a really harder bouldering step. I did it as an artificial because my head was starting to hurt and I wasn't very well acclimatized. Mathis went first but fell on Arthur who was just below and pierced his hand with his crampons. He was lucky in the end, as he didn't hit any tendons or bones, but it was quite a scare.
You were able to round off this beautiful ascent with a bivouac at altitude. How did you feel then?
KM: Once up there, we were thrilled to be able to prepare our bivouac and sleep in our Samaya NANO BIVY, facing a magnificent sunset. Compared with the ushers, we had much better conditions. We had a lot more ice and snow, which enabled us to take 6h30, whereas they took over 10h. In any case, the openers were really pleased that we'd returned to their route and that it wouldn't be forgotten.
Photos by Arthur Poindefert (@arthur_poindefert)
