He spent six days and five nights in the shadow of the Grandes Jorasses: from 13 to 18 January, Charles Dubouloz climbed the North Face solo via the Rolling Stones route, one of the longest and most difficult routes on a wall that is not short of them. Charles Dubouloz has thus achieved one of the most beautiful solo ascents of recent years, and has become part of the history of the North Face of the Jorasses.
It is the highest part of the north face of the Grandes Jorasses: the Walker spur, which leads to the highest point, at 4208 metres. But Charles Dubouloz did not choose the classic Cassin route, the route of the first historic route, or one of the gullies reputed to be faster to the right of the Walker (McIntyre) or to the left (Linceul): he climbed the Czech route, aka Rolling Stones, situated just to the right of the better known Desmaison-Gousseault and to the left of the Cassin. It is a route opened by a Czech team in 1979 and has not been repeated many times. After a first repetition by the Benoît Grison Eric Gramont team in 1984, Stéphane Benoist and Jérôme Thinières made the third ascent in January 2002. After that, the route was repeated from time to time, never often.
Charles Dubouloz up in the north face. ©Seb Montaz / Mammut
A bold achievement
After the approach, Charles Dubouloz launched himself into the face at around 2.30 pm on