Grandes Jorasses : two new ski descents for Vivian Bruchez, Boris Langenstein and Gilles Sierro

It’s an unusual first day of November. Skiing two ‘4000’ on this date? And why not? In November 2012, Vivian Bruchez skied the Migot spur at Le Chardonnet with a certain Kilian Jornet. Nevertheless. At that time of year, given the almost spring-like conditions on the south face, the idea wasn’t so far-fetched. Except that carving your first turns of the season at the summit of Pointe Hélène, at over 4000 metres, with a 50° gradient, is something special, even if the three skiers had done a few turns a day or two before.

It’s a story of friends, of rope-party spirit, gathered around Vivian Bruchez’s project to ski the 82 4000m peaks in the Alps. Of course, some summits are not skiable – the Aiguilles du Diable, for example – but in this case, Vivian aims to ski ‘as close as possible’ to the summit, for example in the previous case the couloirs leading to the base of the Aiguilles. For Vivian, it’s all about taking a fresh look at the summits. It’s his way of exploring the 82 4000m summits, a quest she began twenty years ago, when she skied down the classic Mont Blanc.

Since then, Vivian Bruchez has clocked up around 100 descents on the … 79 or 80 summits he has already covered, and around twenty first descents on skis! Following on from Rébuffat’s Cent plus belles courses, here are Vivian Bruchez’s hundred ski descents of the 82 4000m summits, and this is the penultimate episode Vivian tells us about.

How did you come up with the idea of returning to ski in the Grandes Jo? 

Vivian Bruchez : Two days earlier we went skiing on the Tour Ronde with Boris Langenstein. I wanted to see the snow conditions at altitude, and also check on my ankle, which has been giving me trouble this year. In fact, last Tuesday we skied the normal route of the Tour Ronde, we put our boots on next to the Madonna, at the summit! Boris and I had never skied the normal route before, so we were very happy. And I was even happier to see that my ankle was holding up. As the Mont Blanc tunnel was closed, I came via the Grand St-Bernard, while Boris, based at La Rosière, came via the Petit St-Bernard. I stayed in Courmayeur to watch the snow conditions. The next day, I took a big electric mountain bike ride above Courmayeur to do some scouting.

Did you have any other information? 

I’d actually been thinking about these two routes for a while, at Pointe Croz and on the side of Pointe Hélène. I knew that the Italian Denis Trento had done this beautiful descent from Pointe Whymper in March 2017. As for me, I had skied the classic mountaineering descent route from pointe Whymper. At the time, in 2022, we also skied Pointe Walker with Tom Lafaille. Anyway, this week I saw that conditions were good, and I sent photos to Gilles Sierro, who was in Switzerland, and to Boris. With suggestions for lines! As far as I know, no one had ever skied these two summits of the Grandes Jorasses.

How did the double ascent andtwo descents go? 

Vivian Bruchez : I tried it and failed there last June because the isotherm was too high. And it’s still a hell of a mission. With almost three thousand metres of ascent. This time, the three of us strategically wanted to sleep at the Boccalate hut to save two and a half hours’ walking. Then Gilles told us that he had to do something and that we wouldn’t be leaving until late afternoon. But we didn’t stick to this initial strategy. In fact, on Thursday evening, we packed our bags and were ready to leave around 6pm. Frankly, we thought, why go up there to rest for two hours? We might as well go to a restaurant in Courmayeur. Which we did! After a bit of a rest, we set the alarm for midnight and set off at one o’clock. It then took us seven hours to reach the summit ridge.

Which summit first? 

Vivian Bruchez : We took our time, taking two and a half hours to get to Boccalate. Then we climbed up the rocks at Le Reposoir. Then we climbed the south-east flank of Pointe Hélène to reach the summit ridge of the Jorasses. From there, we went to the real summit of Pointe Hélène with Boris, wearing crampons. It’s quite a climb! It took us two hours round trip. Well, we could have gone to Pointe Marguerite, which is one of the last 4000 that I miss, but that would have taken two more hours and compromised our chances of skiing. There were snowfalls on the ridge! If we wanted to be able to ski, we had to stop there. We then joined Gilles, who was waiting for us, to ski this slope to the east of Pointe Hélène, as far as the rimaye. We put our crampons back on to climb Pointe Croz, 4110 metres, doing a loop to the right. Then we put our boots back on and skied down.

For the rest, the line is logical, with a passage to the left of the serac (looking from the front) made possible by the glacial retreat. Only one thirty-metre abseil was needed. This creates a large snow circus on the right bank of the Rochers du Reposoir. It’s really classy because it adds something to the line. And above all, the line is super high in the end, which makes for a longer, fuller line that’s really interesting from a skiing point of view. It was a nice surprise rather than just “topping the high points of the peaks” to say we’d done them. In the end, we did some great skiing, with a lot of emotion.

How many summits have you skied or approached on skis in your quest for the 82 x 4000? 

I try to climb the summits even if the last few metres or pitches are not skiable. On the other hand, on the Saas 4000, for example, many of the summits are normal mountaineering routes that are accessible on skis. Other summits are landmark openings: the ‘X’ on the Täschhorn with Paul Bonhomme, or this spring, after a rare descent of the Zinalrothorn, a first on the Schreckhorn with Aurel Lardy.

At Jorasses, I still have Pointe Marguerite. We could have gone there, but that would have been too much, both in terms of timing and safety. It’s a long-term project, and I’m taking the time I need to do things properly. I’ve only got two summits left, maybe three, I’ll have to check. And these summits are all in the Mont Blanc massif: Pointe Marguerite in Jorasses, Mont Brouillard on the Italian side, and the Grand Pilier d’Angle, although I passed close by on my descent from Peuterey with Kilian Jornet. There are two points on the GPA and I’m going to check again. As for Mont Brouillard, I skied within a hundred metres of it on my descent of Pointe Louis Amédée with Guillaume Pierrel. But I’ll have to go back there to reach the highest point.

With this very personal project, I’m looking for new routes on summits that are all the more beautiful because they’re right there in front of us.

How do you find your adventure buddies? 

Vivian Bruchez : This project is a bit like my story on skis in the Alps, but it’s not just my story. It’s first and foremost the story of the friends who are with me, and their presence makes for successful days. For the Jorasses, I knew I needed Boris and I needed Gilles, I needed their expertise, their level to make it work. And it was fantastic!