SOUS L'ŒIL D'ADÈLE: OPENING OF A WILD LINE IN THE HEART OF THE ECRINS

 

 

Saturday morning, we meet at Laetitia's home in Villar-d'Arêne to prepare our bags.

 

Two days before, Pierrot calls me to suggest we check out a line spotted by our favorite Laetitia in the valley behind her house. One of the wildest and deepest in the Écrins.

 

The line is to the right of "Louise Fine", on the N face of Pointe Louise. In the few photos I receive, there's a superb length of ice at the bottom, whose length I can't identify, a slope of snow in the middle and a very fine upper gully leading to a rift. I'm immediately drawn to this face. The line seems obvious and rather well-formed. The appointment is made.

 

The backpacks are heavy. Everything is overflowing: tents, jackets, snowplaks, mattresses. It's been a long time since I've had such a big bag, and it's becoming noticeable as the miles go by.

 

Once the line is in sight, we notice a scud hanging down. No ice? More ice? Big questions about the so-called line. Is it in condition? Has the ice cube fallen off?

 

After a kilometer, doubts start to creep in. Well, let's have a look anyway. We soon realize that our line passes to the left of this famous scud. In fact, it's still there in our photos. Big relief. Our motivation soars again.

 

The line has been spotted all along the lower bastion, and we've also seen the median slope. All that's missing is the upper bastion, which remains an unknown: we'll see tomorrow!

 

The tent is set up on the flat of the glacier at the bottom of the valley, facing the Col N de Roche Faurio, which will be our descent route.

 

2h15. The alarm goes off. Unlike Pierre, my night was short. As is often the case, I don't sleep in the mountains. A mixture of fear, excitement and the altitude, which I still can't stand.

 

The lyophs are quickly swallowed and we head for the Tombe-Muret glacier. Laetitia has a problem with her headlamp. Well, we figure that was an argument for going lighter!

 

Dawn breaks as I begin the first pitch. It quickly puts me into the theme of the day: steep and icy, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Protection is precarious and few and far between. Run-outs will be the watchword on this line of ice. I attack the L2 before a dim but reassuring light. It's on this steep wall of rotten ice that I really start to push. The fall isn't the stuff of dreams on my last 13 cm pin, which is already 8 m below me. I then concentrate hard, focusing on the pickaxe strike and foot placement, then the length unwinds as I weave my way through this not always very good ice.

 

We soon reach the foot of the scud and the left tackle. It's Laetitia who leads the latter. The pitch is again steep and in bad snow. She proceeds slowly, but as safely as possible. In second gear, I unhook a boulder that grazes Pierre. More fear than harm, but I keep in mind that our day could have ended there.

 

This is followed by two pitches in 5-star ice, the kind you can find in the Fournel valley in the middle of February: pure pleasure before we reach the steep but snowy middle slopes. We make rapid progress on this section. Pierrot finishes the snow slopes by crossing to the left, before reaching the upper goulotte.

 

To our surprise, she's all ice. What a thrill! The first pitch of this section doesn't turn out to be such good veneers after all. They're thin and often bad, but Pierre negotiates them wonderfully. The following pitches are similar, but still just as beautiful in this fine gully. All the way to the final snow slope that takes us out into the sunshine, in a growing wind that cools the atmosphere considerably.

 

The euphoria is at its peak once you've reached the breach: sunshine, friends and a new line in your pocket. A real pleasure!

 

The atmosphere soon changed: on the first abseil down the S face, a rock cut a rope at 30m. The abseils were going to take longer than expected. Then, while abseiling this rope, we blocked it. This wastes time and annoys us. It's Pierre who goes back up to unblock it, taking care not to damage it any further.

 

Finally, four 30 m abseils lead us to the foot of the S face. It's a real relief to get our feet back on the ground. This S face is really a mediocre rock, which will have worked our minds.

 

A short traverse of the glacier takes us to the Col N de Roche Faurio. All that remains is the N couloir to de-escalate to reach the slope. The descent soon becomes a toboggan to save time and energy.

 

Under the watchful eye of Adèle Planchard, tired but happy, we headed back to the car to begin our third GEAN course the following day.