Solo Ascents • Bonatti Pillar

Walter Bonatti solo six days first ascent of the SW Pillar of the Petit Dru in August 1955 was the test piece climb of its day by a climber generally regarded to be the finest Alpinist at that time. The summit of the Petit Dru at 3 730 m stands sentinel at the entrance to the Mer de Glace overlooking the Chamonix valley some 2700m below ; in some way the finest spectacle of the area. The height of the face is 1000m and the Bonatti Pillar begins some 400m up a notoriously dangerous couloir above which the route continues as fine and, in places, difficult rock-climbing. In October 1990 at the age of 30, Catherine soloed this 600m rock section in four hours.

After this climb, she was being compared with Walter Bonatti. She felt the comparisons with Bonatti's multiday ascent demeaned the great alpinist. She decided to show how difficult it was to establish a new alpine route alone, as he did : that's why in 1991 she opened a new route on Les Drus.

Photos : Gérard KOSICKI

" Scaling sheer rock faces with her bare hands, French mountain climber Catherine Destivelle has reached the top at just 31. Four times world champion, the only way is up " (ELLE LONDON, 1991)