Popular Stories
In a place like Chamonix, it’s a fair bet to say that just about every line you can see from the lift has seen ski tracks down it. That is, of course, unless you look in the right places. With minds like Yannick Boissenot’s and Pica Herry’s, new visions are certainly possible. That’s exactly what the bold duo did a few weeks ago, piecing together the first descent of the Couloir Beuf-Sarah on the Aiguille du Peigne.
From the riders:
Join Our Newsletter
After an hour of touring, the mixed climbing on the rock brought some spice to their morning. After leading and fighting for 20 meters, Pica was happy to find a bolted belay and have a rest, climbing with the board on the backpack was as hard as expected. Then Yannick took the lead for another 30 meters, climbing was never too hard but finding good protections was delicate. A short traverse to the left finally brought them in the couloir that they could easily climb the first 100 meters. Their hope for a hidden snow ramp to exit the couloir vanished quickly so they climbed a short steeper icy step in the couloir instead. Snow quickly got soft under the sun on the exit ramps and they managed to ridge a small pass around 3000 meters. On the way down, snow was variable but mostly soft and they made a first 15 meter rappel to link the top ramps and the main couloir. Then the skiing became a bit more technical until the last 40 meter steep rappel.
The line: Couloir Beuf Sara 350 meter 5.2 E2 40/50° M5? for the climbing (4+/5 in summer)
