With their repeat of the Gogna-Cerruti climb on the Matterhorn the French mountaineers Leo Billon, Sébastien Ratel and Benjamin Védrines have completed their project of climbing the three great north faces of the Alps in winter via three Direttissima.
From 24 to 26 January 2022 French mountaineers Leo Billon, Sébastien Ratel and Benjamin Védrines repeated Directe de l'Amitié on the north face of the Grandes Jorasses in the Mont Blanc massif.
From 12 to 16 January 2022 the French mountaineers Leo Billon, Sébastien Ratel and Benjamin Védrines climbed the John Harlin Direttissima on the north face of the Eiger in alpine style and in winter.
Léo Billon and Enzo Oddo have climbed Colonne d’Ercole (1200m, IX) on Mount Civetta in the Dolomites onsight and in a single day. A few days earlier the French mountaineers had teamed up with Silvia Loreggian, climbing Specchio di Sara with the starting variant Coitus Interruptus and the Larcher-Vigiani (8a max, 600m) on Marmolada.
French mountaineers Thomas Auvaro, Léo Billon, Jordi Noguere and Sébastien Ratel belonging to the Chamonix High Mountain Military Group are currently establishing a new route up the West Face of the Drus in the Mont Blanc massif. The climb is being broadcast in live streaming.
58 ascents carried out in 2018 have been included in the Big list, from which winners will be selected for the Piolets d’Or , the prestigious mountaineering award that will be celebrated from 19 - 22 September 2019 during the Ladek Mountain Festival in Poland. The jury is comprised of: Sandy Allan, Kazu Amano, Valeri Babanov, Jordi Corominas, Fred Degoulet, Ines Papert, Andrej Štremfelj.
How to manage risk in the mountains, analysed in this fun video by French alpinists Léo Billon, Max Bonniot and Pierre Labbre belonging to the Chamonix High Mountain Military Group (GMHM) after their climbing expedition to Patagonia where they ascended Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy.
On Tuesday 19 February the French alpinists Léo Billon, Sébastien Ratel and Benjamin Védrines carried out a one-day winter ascent of the Cassin route up the Walker Spur on the North Face of the Grandes Jorasses. A few hours later, Switzerland’s Caro North and Argentinia’s Carlos Molina also completed the same route in winter having climbed it in a single day.
A first video of the repeat of the North Face of Changabang (6864 m), climbed alpine style from 11 - 13 May 2018 by French alpinists Léo Billon, Sébastien Moatti and Sébastien Ratel.
Climbing alpine style from 11 - 13 May, French alpinists Léo Billon, Sébastien Moatti and Sébastien Ratel belonging to Groupe Militaire de haute montagne (GMHM) have repeated the impressive North Face of Changabang (6864 m) in the Garhwal Himalaya in India.
Fosslimonster at Gudvangen, reputed to be one of the longest and most beautiful ice climbs not just in Norway, has been repeated by a flurry of French alpinists including Pierre Labbre, Max Bonniot and Léo Billon. The video of what are quite possibly the first repeats since the route was established in 2009 by Robert Jasper and Roger Schäli.
Winter mountaineering video: the winter ascent carried out by French alpinists Max Bonniot, Léo Billon and Benjamin Védrines of the historic Solleder - Lettenbauer up the NW Face of Civetta (Dolomites).
Winter mountaineering: an interview with French alpinist Max Bonniot after his repeat of the historic Solleder - Lettenbauer climb up the North-West Face of Mt. Civetta in the Dolomites, carried out together with Léo Billon and Benjamin Védrines from 22 - 25 December 2017.
Good conditions in the Mont Blanc massif have enabled the French Groupe Militaire de haute montagne climbers to make three interesting repeats on Rhem-Vimal up Les Droites, Rolling Stones on Grandes Jorasses and Voie des guides on Petit Dru.
