BURSTRanges in Italy and France saw several days of stable weather with good conditions to start the year, which led to several new routes being established, including Mantel Ice and Saute Aure et God Homme.
The 300-metre Mantel Ice, which is found in the Dolomites, was opened by Giordano Faletti, Martin Giovanazzi and Davide Miori on Cima Mantello in Italy. They graded the 300-metre alpine line WI5 M5+
Giovanazzi had been watching the icefall for nearly two years from the Buffaure ski area, unsure whether its sunny exposure would ever allow a safe ascent. As he recounts in his story here, the decision came suddenly. “The other day, maybe the beer at Rifugio Baita Cuz helped clear my thoughts. And the stars aligned: cold weather, little snow, cloudy skies, friends available. All the right ingredients for a little adventure.”
After Giovanazzi recruited Faletti and Miori to join him, they left from the town of Muncion and arrived at the base under light snowfall. The line proved more complex than expected for Giovanazzi, as above the initial pitches of water ice, the route follows a gully almost all the way to the summit. For Giovanazzi, the climb exceeded all expectations. In the end, the mountain delivered what he described as a true gift: Mantel Ice, an absolutely superb line, featuring water ice in the first pitches and then a gully leading nearly all the way to the summit.
And in France, Melvin Bou, Kilian Moni and Raphael Olbrecht made the first ascent of Saute Aure et God Homme at Devoluy in France’s Hautes-Alpes. It’s one of the wildest new routes we’ve seen established this season, as it goes in three pitches at WI5 M11.
The hard new route is the mixed variation to the famous Cascade de Saute Aure WI5, which rarely forms. Bou, who lives in the Dévoluy, had been thinking about the line for some time. Bou and a partner first scoped the potential back in November climbing up to the roof before bailing to wait for better conditions. “I was blown away by the massive roof separating us from it, over 10 meters of nearly horizontal overhang!” Bou said in his story here.
Bou and Moni returned this month and began to bolt the roof, ending just before the lip. They returned the following day with Olbrecht and cleaned the huge roof section. They bolted it to the top and projected the crux sections. They believe Saute Aure et God Homme is set to become a modern hard mixed classic in the Dévoluy.
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