Big Alpine Route in Alps Freed at 5.14 - Gripped Magazine

Big Alpine Route in Alps Freed at 5.14 - Gripped Magazine

Léo Billon and Enzo Oddo have made the first free ascent of Voie Lafaille on the west face of the Drus in the Alps. It now goes free at 5.14. The first ascent was done solo and in winter by Jean-Christophe Lafaille in February 2001. Lafaille called it “the most beautiful and hardest route I’ve ever climbed in the Alps!” He also said it was, at the time, the hardest rock climb in the region. Billon and Oddo bivied twice during their free push of …

First Free Ascent of the Lafaille Route on the West Face of the Dru » Explorersweb

From August 5-7, Leo Billon and Enzo Oddo completed the first free ascent of the Lafaille route on the West Face of the 3,733m Petit Dru in the Mont Blanc massif. The French climbers initially climbed the route in a single day using aid techniques, pulling on pitons and hanging from them for support. They later returned to tackle the route as a free climb, without using pitons for aid, according to Planet Mountain. The Lafaille route's first fre…