A Franco-Italian team has just completed an new itinerary on the north-west side of the Grivola (3969 m). 1500m of steep ski, a slope with an average of 45 degrees. Roch Malnuit, Julien Herry (mountain guide in Chamonix) and the Italian, Davide Capozzi (snowboarder), had camped the night before down in the valley. The start was early morning, May 21st at 5am because the face is 1500m high and it takes the sun really early. "The line we had imagined is pretty straightforward and I think that nobody had done before," says Roch. The three climbers took the same route that they skied down the face, it was easy to recognize the route conditions and the snow. They put their skis 50m under the summit, the summit was too icy. The first 100m are in very hard snow, "we had to be very careful". After this, the snow become more soft and easy to ski. Making big and beautiful turns in another virgin couloir!!! Le Dauphiné
