Cassin Route, Walker Spur, Grandes Jorasses

There are certain routes which represent the history of alpinism and which remain a dream for all alpinists. One of these is the line climbed by Riccardo Cassin, Luigi 'Gino' Esposito and Ugo Tizzoni from 4 - 6 August 1938 up the Walker Spur on the Grandes Jorasses. 72 years have gone by. Many things have changed since then, in alpinism too. But "doing" the Cassin on the Walker Spur remains something that one never forgets... And it's for this reason that we've decided to publish the recent experience of Enrico Bonino and Max Lucco, as well as a detailed route description. We'd like to remind you that routes like this one, and above all legendary mountains such as the Grandes Jorasses, require intimate knowledge and meticulous preparation. To catch a dream.

The Cassin route up the Walker Spur by Enrico Bonino
19-20 July 2010. 72 years after the first ascent, Max Lucco and I find ourselves at the base of the Cassin route on the Walker Spur, beneath the North Face of the Grandes Jorasses.
In truth our project was completely different. I didn't know if I'd manage to find the time and we'd been talking about the Grandes Courses since winter. Then, seeing that summer set in, we thought about repeating the Cassin Route on Pizzo Badile.
The night prior to our departure we spoke to check out the final preparations and I had the crazy idea of suggesting the Grandes Jorasses. Max pounced on the idea, just like for me this had been one of his long term dreams. So... of we went... for Chamonix!
The weather was perfect, conditions were perfect, we spent an afternoon scrutinising the wall and watching a team climb and the bivvy at the base of the 30m corner. That night we were excited but not overly so; all the right ingredients for our dream to come true, and things couldn't have turned out better.
Thanks Max for this great adventure.

	CASSIN ROUTE - WALKER SPUR, GRANDES JORASSES