Mutante mixed climb established on Petites Jorasses by Matteo Della Bordella, Mirco Grasso, Giacomo Mauri

On the 19th and 20th of March 2026 Italian mountaineers Matteo Della Bordella, Mirco Grasso and Giacomo Mauri opened the mixed climb Mutante (M8, 6c, AI4+, 520m) on the south face of the Petites Jorasses in the Mont Blanc massif. The route stands out for its variety of styles and its location: an environment usually frequented in summer but almost completely ignored in winter.

The Petites Jorasses are popular in summer, also due to the presence of the historic Bonatti-Mazeud route on the south face, about 50 metres to the left of the new line, as well as the proximity of the Gervasutti bivouac. A classic spot for alpine climbing, though it rarely comes to mind for winter ascents precisely because of its south-facing orientation.

"There's this obvious line that looks like a couloir and then suddenly drops into an overhang — that's where I thought a good winter route could go, especially since in summer it would just be a dripping wet gully," explains Della Bordella. "It's a bit of an unconventional idea, because no one would normally think of going there in winter. It was great that Giacomo and Mirco were immediately on board. It turned out to be a beautiful route, not extreme but still demanding, with some ice pitches too. What makes it special is exactly that: in this corner of Mont Blanc, we found a really varied winter line: a little gem among the routes in the massif." For Della Bordella, this is his fourth new route in the massif, after Incroyable, Il Giovane Guerriero and Il Regalo di Berna.

"For me, this route came out of nowhere, I'd never even been on this face before, and only started looking at it when Matteo asked me to come along," says Grasso. "You could make out this black corner-couloir in summer photos, always wet, and I figured it might make for a good winter line. Honestly, it seemed almost impossible that such an obvious feature on Mont Blanc hadn't already been climbed. We had no idea what to expect, especially since it's a south face, but above 3,000 metres in winter you can get anything. In the end, it turned out to be a really complete, varied route: rock pitches, dry tooling, ice. Nothing too extreme, just beautiful and varied, tucked away in one of the wildest corners of Mont Blanc."

The result is a varied, well-rounded route whose name reflects the constant shifting of terrain and technique. It starts with mixed pitches up rock and snow, moves into sections of dry tooling — including one especially aesthetic and demanding pitch — then hits a stretch of smooth rock where ice axes and crampons must be set aside in favour of hands and boots, including a delicate slab traverse. In the upper part, a fine ice pitch leads into a snowy couloir, where the difficulty eases and the route takes on the character of a classic Mont Blanc gully all the way to the summit.

The climb took two days: the first dedicated to the approach on skis and opening the first four pitches, the second to completing the route after a night at the Gervasutti bivouac. During the first ascent, the team found a belay with two bolts and some pegs at the top of the first pitch, sign of a previous attempt by unknown climbers. The descent was made by abseiling down the route, along which some new pegs and one additional bolt were placed.