Big new mixed climb on Dent Blanche in Switzerland by Olivier Kolly, Filippo Sala, Silvan Schüpbach

Olivier Kolly, Filippo Sala and Silvan Schüpbach have made the first ascent of Le clin d’œil, an 850m line up the stunning NNE face of Dent Blanche (4357m) above Val d'Herens in the canton Valais of Switzerland. The route shares the start of Romain, established by Patrick Gabarrou and Christophe Jond, then breaks out right to pass through the steepest part of the wall. The last 150m up the snow slope that leads to the summit are shared with another route.

The trio set off on 28 December, made a bivy at about 2/3 height, and summited the next day having encountered demanding condition that had "turned even the “easy” pitches into some very tricky slabs." They have graded the 850m outing M7 WI3, commenting that "the cold temps and the fact that we were not acclimatized made the adventure real!"

Le clin d’œil, meaning the wink, takes its name from eye-shaped steepest section of the face and is the fourth route in Schüpbach's 'The 6 Forgotten North Face' project.

Writing to PlanetMountain, Sala explained: "Silvan’s project ‘The 6 Forgotten North Faces’ is in full swing, and I’m happy to say I’m his climbing partner for it. I’ve taken part in 3 of the 4 faces climbed so far!

Dent Blanche was on the list, and after checking all the options, this one seemed right for the good weather window. We just didn’t realise we weren’t very acclimatised…

The north face of this mountain is split into two sections: the north and the north-west faces, both of which offered potential for a new line.

On the 27th, we started the extremely long approach to the bivouac below the face - probably one of the longest in the Alps, especially in winter when the road is closed. When we reached the bivy, we realised how cold it was, even just standing in the sun.

So in the end, we opted for the north-west face, since on the approach we could see this steep 'eye' of rock in the middle, and it was still unclimbed!

The first day started early. The route begins together with Gabarrou’s route on very easy terrain, but as soon as the wall got serious, we turned right, aiming for the steepest part, the 'eye'.

Climbing through the eye was an excellent decision, with more or less good and steep rock up to M7 difficulty!

Right after that steep part, we finally reached the bivy, which was obviously very poor. There wasn’t enough space for the three of us, so we settled into some very uncomfortable spots. But the worst was yet to come: the bitterly cold night didn’t allow us to sleep at all…

The next day, luckily, the difficulties were mostly over, and we made it to the top around 2 pm!"

 

 

 

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