Paul Bonhomme completes Aiguille Verte 4 Faces in a day

On 18 May French mountain guide Paul Bonhomme completed his ambitious project of climbing and skiing four different, complex faces on Aiguille Verte in the wild heart of the Mont Blanc massif in a single day.

Setting off from the valley at Argentiere, the 42-year-old ascended the North Face via the Couturier Couloir before skiing down the Whymper Couloir on the SE Face, on extremely hard snow. After having crossed Brèche S du Cardinal Bonhomme then took off his skis and, joined by Vivian Bruchez, ascended Y Couloir. At the top the original plan had been to descend Nant Blanc, but conditions proved prohibitive and the duo chose to plunge back down the Couloir Couturier.

As Bonhomme stated, this project was very much an “immense journey exploring the history of alpinism and steep skiing.” Having followed in the footsteps of Mummery, Whymper, Armand Charlet, Saudan, Tardivel, Chauchefoin, Vallençant and Bau, it’s easy to comprehend why.

Couloir Couturier, first ascent Armand Charlet, Marcel Couturier, Jules Simond, 01/07/1932
Couloir Whymper, first ascent Edward Whymper, C. Almer, F. Biener 29/06/1865, 5.3 / E3 / 50° / 600m / 1st ski descent Sylvain Saudan, 1968
Brèche S du Cardinal, 5.2/E3/50°/400m / 1st ski descent Daniel Chauchefoin, Pierre Tardivel
Y Couloir (left hand branch), first ascent Albert F. Mummery, Alexandre Burgener 1881
Couloir Couturier, first ski decent Serge Cachat Rosset 01/08/1973 (with helicopter), Anselme Baud. Patrick Vallençant 05/08/1973 without helicopter

Links: FB Paul Bonhomme, Instagram Paul Bonhomme, your.mountains.over-blog.com