BURSTCharles Dubouloz, 36, has completed a solo ascent of the 600-metre northwest face of the 2,884-metre Pic d’Ossau in France.
He had been ready to solo the wall in January but had to wait 40 days for a suitable weather window. When the conditions finally aligned, rising temperatures forced him to climb quickly to stay ahead of other objectives.
Halfway up the wall, at around 300 metres, Dubouloz accidentally dropped his bag, losing his stove, food, and puffy coat. “I hesitated to continue,” he said. “I wasn’t even halfway up the face; there were still many pitches to go. I really wanted to complete this project. I was ready to do anything, so I decided to push on.”
He spent the night shivering on a ledge, wearing only a fleece and enduring what he described as “pure torture.” By morning, he completed the climb and hurried down, “dying of thirst.” The entire round-trip took 48 hours.
In December, Dubouloz made a solo winter ascent of Divine Providence on the Grand Pilier d’Angle in the Mont Blanc massif. His adventure began in Annecy, where he cycled 120 kilometres with a trailer to Chamonix before meeting his ski partner, Antoine Bouqueret. Together, they skied roughly 2.5 kilometres up the Mer de Glace toward the base of the climb. Three days after leaving home, Dubouloz was ready to begin.
Over the next six days and five nights, he rope-soloed 900 metres of steep cracks and tricky mixed sections graded 5.12. After a bivouac atop the climb, he continued along the famous Peuterey Ridge to reach the summit of Mont Blanc. Bad weather forced him to cancel his planned paraglide descent, so he returned to Chamonix on foot. According to Planet Mountain, he lost 8 kilograms (over 17 pounds) during the week.
Afterward, Antoine Bouqueret joined him for a winter ascent of Directe Gamma on the southeast face of the Barre des Écrins (4,102 m). Dubouloz had originally hoped to solo the north face of Pic Sans Nom or Ailefroide, but snow conditions made it impossible. He and Bouqueret spent three nights on the wall, climbing 36 pitches graded ED 6b+ V X4 P4 (with X denoting objective dangers and P the quality of protection).
Dubouloz is no stranger to committing objectives. In 2021, he completed a rare three-day solo of the north face of Les Drus via the challenging Pierre Allain route and ended the year with a new route on the north face of Chamlang (7,319 m) in Nepal with Ben Vedrines. In 2022, he completed the first winter solo ascent of the classic Rolling Stones (ED WI5+ 6a M8 A3) on the north face of the Grandes Jorasses near Mont Blanc, a climb that took six days and five nights from January 13 to 18.
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