'Histoire Sans Fin' repeated on Petit Clocher du Portalet by Camilla Moroni, Pietro Vidi

Italian climbers Camilla Moroni and Pietro Vidi have successfully repeated Histoire sans Fin on Petit Clocher du Portalet in Switzerland. In doing so Moroni made the first female free ascent of what has been described by those in the know as "the best granite multipitch of the grade in Europe."

Known for its stunning aesthetic and hard climbing, Histoire Sans Fin was first climbed free by Seb Berthe and Siebe Vanhee in summer 2021. The 200m route is composed of eight pitches, with difficulties up to 8b+. Moroni and Vidi arrived at the base of Petit Clocher du Portalet on July the 1st and worked the route over three days - trying the individual pitches, in between the frequent afternoon thunderstorms. After some days of rest, they refined their beta on the 9th and 10th of July, before going for a lead attempt on July the 12th.

During the ascent, Vidi successfully climbed each pitch on lead, without falling. Moroni had a bit more of a fight on her hands – struggling through the 7c traverse on pitch 3, then falling on the fourth pitch (8b+) three times, before successfully leading it. She climbed pitch six (8b) on her second lead attempt and lead the final hard pitch (Pitch 7, 8a+) cleanly on her first attempt.

After her ascent, Moroni commented: “After the competition season, I decided to take a three week break to go rock climbing. I had already spotted this line last year, but because of competitions and training for the Olympics, I didn’t have time to try it. So this year, I decided to take on the challenge without any specific preparation. It had been about six months since I’d last worn a harness or trained endurance.

I have to admit that two days before the final push I wasn’t feeling that confident about sending the route. But after a rest day, I switched my mindset into competition mode. I climbed the 7c+ crack, getting a serious pump, and then fell three times traversing 7c due to silly mistakes.

The next pitch is a technical 8b+ that starts on an arete and finishes with a small boulder section. Because of my height, I had to do a toe catch to reach a hold from the arete. Huge thanks to Pietro for helping me find this alternative beta!

That day, conditions were good, and the moves felt easier than usual, but still, my feet slipped three times. After finally sending that pitch, we continued on to the 8b arete, the pitch I was most afraid of. Pietro cruised it on his first go and stayed there to support me. On my first attempt, I fell just a couple of hard moves before the rest. This pitch was a real mental battle. I was getting tired. I managed to send it on my second try, and I knew the route was nearly done.

The last pitch is an 8a+ slab, which doesn’t require much power, just focus and calm. I sent it on my first go, and soon after we were at the top. What a satisfying feeling! Over the days we spent working on the route, I had to learn to use stiffer climbing shoes for the tiny footholds. I’m usually used to softer shoes, so it took me a while to adapt. I switched between the Instinct VS and the Vapor S along the route. I really want to thank Pietro for being super supportive throughout the whole experience!”

Vidi added: “Ever since Camilla showed me a picture of the route, last season, I knew I wanted to climb this crazy looking arête, and this season we finally decided to check it out.

We first went up there three days sleeping in the tent, but we were pretty unlucky with the weather allowing us just to climb a couple hours in the morning, we came back the next week with much better conditions and spent two days checking out all the pitches, sending most of them and being pretty confident for a push in the next days.

We started climbing on Saturday after a rest day, and after quite a pumpy fight on the first 45m crack pitch things went pretty smoothly, I cruised through the 8b+ crux pitch without too many problems, unexpectedly my feet didn’t slip on the super technical 8b arête, and I just kept going to the top without any falls.

It was a smooth and quick ascent for me, but I actually stayed on the wall for almost 12 hours, supporting Camilla on her fight After climbing this one and Lurking Fear I can definitely say that my slab technique doesn’t feel too bad!”