BURSTHigh above the Valais valley in Switzerland, the 2,985m Petit Clocher du Portalet rises as a steep granite spire into the Alps. Histoire sans Fin (8b+, 200m) is one of the hardest free-climbing routes on the spire and a major test of hard Alpine multi-pitch climbing.
In the last week of August, German climber Solveig Korherr, 28, made the route her hardest multi-pitch ascent, following two and a half weeks of effort and completing it on her final available day. Known for sending several 9a/5.14d sport climbs, Korherr has increasingly moved into demanding multi-pitch and traditional climbing. Her partner was French climber Soline Kentzel, 25, renowned for serious big-wall and traditional routes, including El Capitan and Le Voyage at Annot. Here, Korherr tells the story of the ascent.
The route’s history began in 2001, when crack-climbing legend Didier Berthod and François Mathey established the famous first-pitch crack. In 2020, Fabian Borter, Bertrand Martenet, and Didier Berthod extended and linked the line to the summit. In August 2021, Sébastien Berthe and Siebe Vanhee completed the first free ascent (FFA). The route was repeated in July 2025 by Camilla Moroni and Pietro Vidi, with Moroni making history with the first female free ascent.
The route breaks down to 5.10, 5.13, 5.12+, 5.14a, 5.12, 5.13+, 5.13-, and 5.10, and after the first ascent, Vanhee said it’s likely the “best granite multi-pitch of the grade in Europe.” See more from the first ascent here.
Histoire sans Fin by Solveig Korherr
I wanted to share that on the 23rd of August, I was able to climb Histoire sans Fin ( 8b+/514a, 10 pitches), after two and a half weeks of working on it and seven climbing days in total, accompanied by my friend and French climber Soline Kentzel. The route is one of the most stunning and hardest granite multi-pitches in Europe, located on the Petite Clocher (2,823 m) in the Swiss Alps.
At the beginning of the year, Soline and I were already making plans to try Histoire sans Fin in the summer. We had been dreaming about it ever since.
In August, when my summer break from studying finally started, I met Soline in Valais to begin our big mission. Soline was already fired up, having worked on another route on Petite Clocher and spent some climbing time in Chamonix. She was ready for our big mission. I wasn’t sure if I was yet. The psych was there, but after feeling pretty exhausted from my exam period, I was a little worried about whether I would be able to keep up with the long days on the wall.
We took the chairlift and then hiked for about one and a half hours to put up our base camp. From there, it was another half-hour hike to the wall. Over the course of two and a half weeks, we walked up and down four times with our base camp. On the first climbing day, I definitely overdid it. I felt sore, sick and exhausted afterwards, and we had to go down earlier than expected. Luckily, I slowly started recovering and adapting to the long days on the wall. I also learned to take things a bit slower and listen to myself a little better.
We were making progress, but for both of us, we weren’t really sure if we had enough time to free all the pitches individually. It still felt a bit too far away. So we started thinking about doing a team ascent: splitting the four hard pitches between us, with each of us focusing on trying to send two. I felt more comfortable on the 8b+, while Soline felt more at home on the 8b arete. Since she was more in the crack game, she would lead the 7c+, while I would focus on the 8a+.
While working on the route, we both focused more on our respective pitches, but we still tried all of them. The 7c+ crack started to feel doable as well, while the 8b arete still felt very insecure and far away from being sendable for me.
In between, Soline joined some friends on one of the neighbouring crack route La Darbellay (8a/5.13b) to give it one more try. She had already come close to sending it before we met and this time she managed to send it. Read more about her ascent on Instagram here.
As our time was slowly coming to an end and we were forced to rest a bit longer because of the weather, we went up for the last time with two days to give the route a proper try. The first climbing day, however, we had to bail because it was simply too cold and we couldn’t feel anything. I even climbed the first few easier pitches wearing my down jacket — it was no bueno.
So we only had one more day to try. Even though we were going up there with the idea of doing a team ascent, I was still seeing a slight chance that I could climb all the pitches. I have surprised myself in the past with what I can do, especially when I lower my expectations. So I talked to Soline about wanting to give my best on all the pitches and just see how it would go. Especially if I could send the 7c+ and the 8b+, I wanted to try the 8b as well.
My main goal was to send the 8b+, because I knew that one felt doable. Soline sent the 7c+ crack and I followed her. Afterwards, I sent the 7c traverse, which is quite bouldery and fingery. I didn’t necessarily feel good on it, but it’s also hard to get properly warmed up.
I was quite nervous before the 8b+, especially because I had put the most pressure on myself on this pitch. Waiting for the sun to move off that side of the pillar, I guess I was a little too impatient and fell on the cruxy sequence on the slopers, which were still in the sun. But I was also quite pumped by the time I got there and I found some small details to change in my beta. On my second try, I gave everything with my refined beta and some proper try-hard. With a few power screams, I climbed to the top of the pitch.
I was very happy with my climbing and relieved. I felt like I could chill a little bit now and belay and support Soline on the 8b pitch. It was insane watching Soline trying it. She was giving it a proper fight too. On the arete, she almost had an open door a few times but was still able to stay on. After the arete section, there is still a traverse with very small holds, bad feet and insecure moves. She slowly worked her way to the left and then, on the very last move… she fell. What a heartbreakingly close fall, right before the anchor.
Of course, Soline was frustrated at first, but she is one of the most positive climbers I know and seemed to deal with it quite well, staying positive. It is something I really admire about her. Since Soline took a break, I was curious to give it a try. To my surprise, everything felt much better than before. I was more relaxed. I felt like I was sticking to the wall better and was starting to get the hang of climbing this arete. I fell in the middle, though, because of a mistake.
I was psyched. I told myself that this actually could go. I was full of endorphins and adrenaline when Soline lowered me back down to her, and I asked her if I could have another try. Not even being able to rest for five minutes, I immediately started trying again after just three minutes of rest. Soline was laughing because I hadn’t even taken my shoes off.
I made it through the arete section, which was already a huge success for me. But I still had the spicy traverse ahead of me. I was nervous because I had not properly checked it out before. Honestly, I hadn’t thought I would make it this far. From the belay, Soline screamed: “When you don’t know what to do, just full-crimp the shit out of the holds like you always do and then you’ve got this!”
Well, that’s pretty much what I did traversing slowly to left. I had the worst beta for the final move and already saw myself falling, too. But somehow, I managed to get to the good hold with a final throw. I can’t describe how freaking relieved I was when I was finally holding that hold. I was psyched.
But then, a few minutes later, I felt a bit sad because now it wasn’t a team ascent anymore. There would be no shared success and I wasn’t sure how Soline would feel about it. She was the sweetest and most supportive partner I could have wished for. I could tell she was very psyched and euphoric for me and she wanted to support me to the summit.
I had one more hard pitch: the 8a+ slab. Not my favorite style and I knew it was about to get painful, especially since I already had some bleeding fingers. But I also knew I would give everything and wasn’t going to let this go anymore. I tried to climb as controlled as possible, again and again, full-crimping everything and being precise, especially because the end is quite runout. Sending the pitch, I felt quite touched.
One last easy pitch ahead and Soline and I were standing on the summit, celebrating with a Twix – the last snack we had left. In hindsight, the idea of doing a team ascent was quite appealing to me and I would have been happy with it. And even if I hadn’t sent the whole route, I was already happy with my climbing after sending the 8b+ pitch. Taking some of the pressure off myself allowed me to climb with much more ease and curiosity – just wondering whether I had it in me to climb the whole thing.
What a way to finish this whole adventure! Can someone pinch me?!
Thanks of course to Soline and my sponsors for the support!
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