Voie Frison-Roche

Another sunny day, another adventure from our new guidebook. Voie Frison-Roche on the Brévent East Face is described as THE classic of the Aiguilles Rouge, so of course, it just had to be done.

A very quick descent down the ski run from the top of the Brévent lift station took us past some interesting looking short sports routes on the Brévent Crags, but our goal was a little further down and around the corner.

As we approached I heard voices. We turned the corner and there were already four teams spread out along the first three pitches. We contemplated a plan B, but decided that the teams were moving fast enough and we would still be able to finish the route before the last lift down.

As we geared up, two more teams turned up. It is a very popular route.

I haven’t done all the routes on the Aiguilles Rouge yet, but I can say this one is certainly pretty classy. Each pitch has some great athletic moves, and I’m grateful to say is adequately bolted to make it fun rather than scary.

The final two pitches were in the shade, and it did get a bit cold. But we’re used to the cold unlike the Italian climber following us who declared, “Pah, the French summer weather!!!”. We laughed at that, and told him he should try a British summer weather!

We topped out 20m from the Brévent top lift station. Now that’s the sort of return walk I like. 😉 There was time for another short sports route on the single pitch Brévent Crags, but we’re on holiday so went down to enjoy a beer in the summer sun!