Ice climbing: Folly De Droite, January 06

Bruno and I were preparing the gear slowly as we were waiting for the daylight to come, when we saw little headlamps dots in the valley. We were surprised since it’s not a very frequented place …

We had heard for a long time about this spot in the Alps close to where we live: an amazing natural amphitheater where there are 6 major water falls 300m high. Frozen, they range between grades 5+ to 7. The avalanche hazard, the inaccessibility, the hugeness of the falls and the very short span of good conditions makes it one of the most difficult crags.

When my friend and I realized the light dots were definitely coming our direction, we looked at each other and burst in laugh: we thought they’re going to be bummed we arrived before, but we were also feeling silly to have arrived so early!

We came a first time two weeks earlier to try the Folly De Droite, 5+. We had to find the approach, then climb up the river bed trying to move forward between big rocks. It took us 3 1/2 hours to arrive. We climbed nearly half of the fall, but we were too late and had to turn down running out of daylight. That’s why today, we started super early. This time, of course, knowing the way and having much more snow in the river bed, it took us only 2hours and a half… So here we are, drinking tea waiting for enough light to start climbing!

Step after step, the climb was fantastic: a huge vertical wall of 3 big pitches with only a few centimeters of ice sticked to the rocks. The feeling of verticality gotten after just a 100m of elevation was unbelievable. Then a ramp with jellyfish like ice hanging all over was majestic. A guy below arrived at my belay. First thing he told me was “who is he?” looking at my friend leading… Well….! After this weird exchange, They appeared to be actually really nice guys : guides from Chamonix. They confessed they weren’t that psyched when they saw us at first because nobody is ever here!
It was then very fun to finish the climb with them, we were all sharing this experience, sharing a moment of greatness and absolute the mountain offers, that can be so only by sharing it with others.

Then a pretty vertical pitch, a huge free standing, broken at the top, just to make you feel confident… Absolutely amazing! The way down wasn’t much less stressful as we had to rappel only on abalakovs…

That climb was in a way the most engaged I’ve ever done. It’s serious climbing there. It’s totally unlike any other 5+ that I know of. You can feel, surrounding you, the power of the mountain.
Doing it with my best friend, sharing this powerful experience, is the best souvenir I keep. A day that finished in this great spirit of mountaineering : we all – the team climbing with us and their 2 friends who were here repeating a new mixed route – went having a beer!