A new mixed climbing route to reach the summit of the Aiguille du Midi (3,842m) was opened at the end of May 2017.
Le Dauphine has announced that a mountaineer specializing in dry tooling, and also a Gendarme with Chamonix PGHM, Jean-François Mercier a.k.a. Jeff Mercier, has ascended in two phases, the new 1,000 meters mixed climbing route.
The route is located on the south-west face of the Aiguille du Midi, and has a section of 90 degree vertical, with a difficulty level M7.
M7 grade: Overhanging; powerful and technical dry tooling; less than 10m of hard climbing. The M7 corresponds to the maximum difficulty level of climbing in mixed terrain: rock, snow and ice, using ice climbing equipment such as ice axes and crampons and climbing equipment helmet, harness and rope.
The new route is called "Red Devils", in French "Diables rouges". The name chosen by Jeff Mercier refers to the Manchester United Football Club and pays tribute to the victims of the Manchester ARENA bombing, Monday 22 May 2017.
Jeff is well known for opening new routes in Chamonix, particularly in spring, when there are "better conditions". On this ascent he was accompanied by David Autheman of TV Mountain, Lucien Boucansaud, ski instructor in Argentière and Gérémy Rakowski, Gendarme at the PGHM Annecy.
The ascent was made in two phases
According to Le Dauphine, the first phase of the climb began on 16th May 2017, after a bivouac at the snack bar, Plan de l’Aiguille, located at 2,310m.
Departing at 4 a.m., the team climbed on foot into the "danger zone" which is exposed to serac fall from the Rond glacier, above the Junction, where they faced a large rock out-crop.
This obstacle was only about 100 meters high and was nor particularly steep but was treacherous because of the loose and friable nature of the rock. After overcoming this obstacle they arrived at the "black dihedral", where a pronounced "U" shape gateway, was blocked with huge boulders.
Fortunately, the quartet had an "excellent surprise", when they saw a light shining from between the boulders. This was passage through an ice tunnel, that made it possible to climb all the way up to 3,500m.
A week later, the team spent an early night at the Cosmiques Hut (3,613m), and departed at 3 a.m. under a clear moonlit night on 24th May 2017, they embarked on the second phase of the new route. This begun with the descent of the Rond glacier to a point a little below, and to the right of the place where they completed the first phase.
From here they begun to climb the second phase. In four exceptional pitches, of mixed climbing with some very steep sections up to 85-90 degrees, they exited through a "snow garden" and quickly continued on, to reach the summit of the Aiguille du Midi.
Jeff Mercier has been dry-tooling since 1998 and promotes the style of climbing through the DTS Dry Tool Style association. He practices the French Dry-Tooling Style which is characterized by not using the spurs, the Yaniro and holding the ice axes with the elbow.
Derivated from mixed alpinism and ice climbing, the dry-tooling is practiced in mixed terrain, on rock or in a climbing gym.
