The Lafaille route at the Dru is a legend, climbed by famous alpinist Jean-Christophe Lafaille, alone, in eight days during winter 2001. Léo Billon, from Groupe Militaire de Haute Montagne (French Elite Moutain Army Group), pursued this chimera: freeclimbing this 1000-meters-bigwall rated A4/A5. After days spent trying the hardest pitches, they managed to free it (F8b+, 5.14a), from the 5th to the 7th of August. With its three or four pitches between 8a/8b+, and as many in the 7c, Leo and Enzo achieved the most difficult rock route of the Mont-Blanc massif. “A dream come true” for Léo Billon, who tells us more about it.
When he picks up his phone, he’s just back down from a day up there, at the Grand Capucin. A « chill day » with a compagnion of the French High Mountain Military Group (GMHM), it’s a twelve-pitches-long route, L’or du temps,