Patrick Gabarrou, the 57-year old alpinist whose name is synonymous with pioneering in the Mont Blanc Massif, has added another new line - reputedly his sixth - to the North Face of the Grandes Jorasses.
Although relatively 'slight' compared to his many other offerings on the North Face, the new route plugs the obvious gap at the left extremity of the wall; the snow face and mixed exit between the 1985 Godefroy Perroux route, Coulée Douce (400m: D) and the Petit MacIntyre (sometimes referred to as the Petit Linceul), the great corner system left of the Shroud climbed in 1976 by Alex MacIntyre, Tim Rhodes and Willi Todd (600m: TD).
With Michel Caranotte, Gabarrou climbed the route in eight hours and, as usual, was reluctant to proffer a grade, citing the difficulties to be very much conditions dependent. However, when pushed, he felt it was worthy of TD at the time of the ascent, when there was a reasonable build up of snow and ice. The new line exits onto the crest of the Hirondelles Ridge, below half-height on this route [in the accompanying photograph the large, rocky, Walker Spur falls from the highest point of the Grandes Jorasses and the new route climbs the second main ice slope to the left].
Gabarrou has named the route Hugues d'en Haut after Hugues d'Aubarede, the 61-year old grandfather who was one of the victims of the recent K2 tragedy. The pair had previously spent some time together at Everest Base Camp and Gabarrou was full of praise for the older mountaineer's selfless attitude.
Like many of his generation, Gabarrou was tempted into climbing by the evocative books of Gaston Rébuffat, and summited his first peak, the Dent Blanche, in 1969. By the time he had graduated from the Sorbonne with a degree in philosophy, he was totally committed to mountaineering, soon qualified as a guide, and went on to become one of the most enduring alpinists in the latter half of the 20th Century. Amongst his many, now famous contributions are the Gabarrou-Albinoni and Supercouloir on Mont Blanc du Tacul, the Gabarrou-Silvy Direttissima on the Aiguille Sans Nom, the Direttissima on the Red Pillar of Brouillard, Divine Providence on the Grand Pilier d'Angle, and his many ground-breaking new routes on the South Side of Mont Blanc, North Face of the Grandes Jorasses and the Matterhorn.
Unlike nearly all top-class French alpinists of his era, Gabarrou was never really lured by the Greater Ranges, realizing there was plenty of new ground to explore in the Alps alone. However, he has climbed a new route on Annapurna and also summited Everest. He was also the French ski mountaineering champion in 1989 and has taken a very active role in the work of the international environmental concern, Mountain Wilderness.
As for pioneering new routes throughout the Alps, there presently seems little chance of Gabarrou slowing down.
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