Nant Blanc Route Repeated

It took twenty years for the line on Nant Blanc in the Chamonix-Argentiere region of the French Alps to come into shape, but on June 19, 2008 it was finally in…and this time without a rope. By choosing a slight variation to the route skied previously by John Mark Bovin and snowboarded by Marco Siffredi in 1989, Pierre Tardivel, Eric Guilhot and Sylvain Meyet nailed the descent. Two days later…it was out of shape.

The team started up the route at 6am after a long 2 day(?) approach and felt the pressure right away, thinking they weren’t moving fast enough. In addition, one of the team members got sick with gastric flu and had to be helied off the summit in a thick fog, adding two hours to the clock. Though the line looks very steep, Tardivel comments that the slope was probably never over 51/52 degrees, with snow coverage over rocks and ice being the main concern.

Check out the details and be sure to check out the zoom/pan feature with the pictures at the bottom…knowing French helps. And if you haven’t already, bookmark the Yadugaz.com website and check it out when you have some time to spare. It’s very cool. Here are some photos to wet your whistle…and check out this Yadugaz video.

All photos courtesy of Yadugaz.com.