New route on Les Aiguilles Rouges, massif du Mont-Blanc – Le Brevent SE face
On 16 April 2011 Geordie (Waiwah Yip) and myself climbed our way up a new route “Lost in Translation” on Le Brevent (Les Aiguilles Rouges, massif du Mont-Blanc) above Chamonix. We left in the early afternoon with the intent of climbing ‘Frison Roche’ but a walk down the ski slope and the snow accumulation at the base of the wall which we circumvented by two abseils deposited us way more to the left at the very base of the wall. We spotted a line and I climbed the first 35m pitch under the horrifying whistle of rockfall liberated from the wall by the early afternoon sun. Brick and coffee-table sized chunks wizzed by and I found solace under a small, illusory protecting, roof 35 or so meters up. Geordie carried on with the next three pitches – more a collection of curiously balanced rubble and interesting cracks. The last two…