After 20 year’s wait for the right conditions Pierre Tardivel accompanied by Eric Guilhot and Sylvain Meyet have repeated Jean-Marc Boivin’s legendary descent of the Nant Blanc in the Mont Blanc range.

They made their descent at 4pm, waiting for the snow to soften enough on the steep upper pitches to make them skiable. They didn’t have to abseil any part of the route unlike JMB and Marco Siffredi (1st snowboard descent). Tardivel says the conditions were “probably slightly easier compared to the first two descents”.

Readers of the local paper will have heard that two of the team had to be airlifted off the face with altitude sickness on the climb. Even Tardivel was surprised by the exposure and steepness of the route, “two large snow fields inclined at 50°, maybe a little less here and there.” The upper traverse was a bit over 50°. Pierre rates the route 5.6 but says the “real problem” is the long approach march with bivouac gear. He thinks his descent may go some way to demythifying the route.

http://www.yadugaz.com/index.php/2008/06/20/84-la-yadugaz-connection-au-nant-blanc-aiguille-verte-4122-m
http://www.volopress.net/volo/sortie3006.html