Solo Ascents • Grandes Jorasses

The Walker Spur conjours up thoughts of all that is magnificent about great alpine routes. Reaching the foot of the route is a long slog, there is a long and technical climb above, mostly on rock and the descent from the summit is awkward and long. This is the big shadowy North Face of the Grandes Jorasses overlooking the far reaches of the Mer de Glace and the Leschaux Glacier, guarded at its base by a serious bergshrund. In February 1993, Destivelle crossed the bergshrund roped to her partner before setting off solo on a three day ascent of the Cassin Route of the Walker Spur, technically more difficult than the Eiger due to hard rock-climbing in severe cold conditions. A first for a woman in winter.

Photos : René ROBERT

“ If other women have achieved the same heights as Destivelle in one facet or another of climbing, no woman - and only a small number of men - has climbed at such a high level in so many realms of the sport. It was rock and competition climbing that made Catherine Destivelle famous, but it is her bold climbs on the darkest faces of the Alps, the routes she dreamed of as a child, that will be her enduring legacy " (Rock'nIce)