The late Gian Carlo Grassi, one of the greatest and most prolific Italian alpinists of modern times, once referred to it with that clichéd statement, 'one of the last great problems in the Alps'. Finally, last month, Hervé and Marco Barmasse climbed the Couloir dell Enjambée on the Matterhorn.
The many, many alpinists who climb the Normal Route from Italy to the summit of the 4,477m Matterhorn - the Italian or Lion Ridge - cross the top of this couloir.
Above the Carrel Hut, the Lion Ridge rises to Pic Tyndall (4,241m), the start of a quasi-horizontal shoulder on the arête. At the far end of this progressively narrowing shoulder, climbers have to negotiate a pronounced notch - the Enjambée. Some even jump. Directly below, on the right, is the steep upper section of the Couloir.
Hervé (32 years old) and his father Marco (61) are respectively the fourth and third generation of Barmasse family guides to have practiced their profession on the Matterhorn and other neighbouring peaks.
Marco, who was well on top of his game in the late 1970s and '80s, has made several new routes on the mountain.
The pair completed the new route in one long winter's day, reaching the Enjambée and then descending the 400m to the Carrel Hut, where they arrived in the middle of the night.
They started up the Original Route on the South Face (Benedetti/Bich/Carrel, 1931: 1,200m: TD-) but then appear to have continued up independent ground in the couloir, whereas the Original Route climbs the rib immediately to the right.
This rib is also taken by the first part of the South Face Direttissma, climbed in 1983 by Marco Barmasse and only repeated for the first time in 2007, by none other than Hervé, climbing solo.
Climbing just to the left of the Direttissma, father and son entered the final 400m of narrow couloir leading up to the Enjambée. This had never been attempted before and provided the crux.
The climbing was generally hard mixed with little ice and long sections where protection was scant: on occasions the leader was forced to make difficult moves 15-20m above his last runner.
A particularly hard pitch occurred after 250m. There, Hervé found great difficulty in solving the problem of a quasi-vertical wall of typically friable Matterhorn rock, covered with loose snow.
The two have not yet graded the c1,000m route, but found it 'very difficult' and felt it was their finest climb. Considering how much both have achieved in the Alps and Greater Ranges over the years, this statement shouldn't be taken lightly.
« Back