In just two days, from November 30 to December 1, French Victor Garcin, Baptiste Obino and Nicolas Jean opened a major new route on the south face of the 4102-meter Barre des Écrins in the Écrins massif, French Alps. The route’s grade ? ED, 900m, 6b+, WI5, M5, A1.
Who said there was no more room for new routes on the big faces of the Alps? Certainly not Baptiste Obino, author of a new solo route on the south face of La Meije (Pantouflage et sabotage, ED+, 800 m). Certainly not Nicolas Jean, who in January 2023 already opened a new route on the same south face of the Écrins (L’Or en Barre, ED+, 1000 m, with Benjamin Védrines, and Julien Cruvellier De Luze). As for Victor Garcin, this spring he and his GEAN companions opened two firsts in Peru on Ocshapalca (5888 m) and Nevado Copa (6,188m). Suffice it to say, the French trio is (very) sharp.
The information was circulated via a post on Camptocamp and then on social networks (by the only member of the group to do so, Victor Garcin). The fact is, there’s no shortage of space on the huge south face of the Écrins, but singularly few routes have been set on this south-facing slope in winter. That’s why two lines jumped out at innovative mountaineers: l’Or en Barre, and Barretasse to the right.
©Coll. Victor Garcin/Nicolas Jean/Baptiste Obino
©Coll. Victor Garcin/Nicolas Jean/Baptiste Obino
Victor Garcin recounts the adventure, which began at Pré de Madame Carle, above Ailefroide. “I’d been thinking about this line for a while, and the conditions on the face seemed exceptional. After a night at the Cézanne hut, it was time for some mountaineering. Between ice climbing pitches, compact slabs and aid climbing, the whole mountaineering spectrum was covered! But after the mountaineer, it was time for the carpenter. While we were fixing the ropes above the bivouac, Nico carefully arranged a small cave for us to spend the night in! By midday on our second day, we were on the summit!
A job well done in just a day and a half. Victore Garcin adds: “Little Victor, who, over ten years ago, was dragged to this summit for the first time by his father, would never have imagined experiencing things like this.”
©Coll. Victor Garcin/Nicolas Jean/Baptiste Obino
©Coll. Victor Garcin/Nicolas Jean/Baptiste Obino
Barre des Ecrins, France. SE Face.
The Barretasse topo. The authors state: “Even if the ratings of the pitches remain modest, they are committed and the belaying tricky.
The history of mountaineering on the south face of the Écrins is nothing new. The south face itself, to the left of the south pillar, is home to two major routes climbed in winter or in the presence of ice: the Gabarrou-Marsigny goulotte (and its variant), opened in 1980, and the recent Coup de Barre j’écrins le pire, climbed in 2012 by Max Bonniot, Mat Détrie and Pierre-Labbre. The huge south-southeast slope, to the right of the south pillar, saw the recent opening of l’Or en Barre, in 2023.
But the first route opened on this wall dates back to 1893! The work of A. Reynier with Maximim Gaspard and Joseph Turc, this route, known as the Reynier Way, follows the great diagonal with switchbacks that line the southeast slope, but does not lead to the summit.
There have been many variants of the Reynier route, including a direct exit by P. Héraud and Edouard Frendo in August 1941. There are also direct departures, or rather a new route, such as the 1932 Vernet route, the center of which is quite close to the 2024 route. The exit of the new 2024 route (the 50° upper ramp) seems close to the exit of this 1941 route, which itself seems on its end parallel or close to the exit of the Arête Rouge (Toumayeff-Vernet 1926). To be confirmed with the authors, the huge south-east face of the Écrins is a labyrinth!