Elios & Super Elios added to Tour de Jorasses by Giuseppe Vidoni, Richard Tiraboschi, Tommaso Vection

The idea of a possible line up the central section of the Tour de Jorasses came about three years ago, when Tommaso Vection and I repeated Etoile Filantes (Daniel Anker, Michel Piola, Pascal Strappazon 1988) and I wondered if there were other climbs to the left. After studying the face a little, I learnt that there was only Via Diretta al Machetto , the variation put up by Gianni Predan and Manlio Motto to the obvious corner climbed by Gianni Calcagno, Leo Cerutti and Guido Machetto (5-6/08/1970). This however lay far to the left and ended below the roofs before rejoinng the large corner.

This year I decided to go and repeat Motto's route in order to check out the line and get a closer look at the central wall. While rappelling I noticed a perfect system of cracks on the lower section. A question mark remained about the roofs on the upper section. So I called Tommaso and Richard, and they immediately said: when shall we go?

We set off on June 27th, fully packed from Val Ferret. The approach is not the easiest: you have to tackle 1500m D+ and cross the glacier. We climbed the first pitch of Diretta al Machetto and from there we moved to the right aiming for the cracks. Wow, they were really great to climb! And super aesthetic! We reached the first roof, I start up the first part following a thin crack, but then given that it was late we decided to descend.

We are motivated to return as soon as the weather allowed us to. A week later, helped by other friends who transported some gear, we returned to our highpoint. It took me a good two hours to breach the first big roof, and given this boost we started to think we might finish the route that day. We added another two pitches, somewhat easier but nevertheless demanding, to reach the base of the second roof. It is getting late and much to our regret we bailed.

Due to my injury, a month passed by before we decided to try again, this time just Tommy and I. Since there were two of us, we quickly returned to our highpoint once again. We climbed the second roof, easier to bolt than the first, but still challenging. Tommy, as a second, tried the free the moves: he estimated that the pitch is at least 8a+/8b. From there there's one more challenging pitch, then the angle eases off and the climb gets easier. Another 80m of fifth grade climbing led to top of Tour de Jorasses.

This route is divided into two parts: Elios, which with constant and moderate difficulties offers a pleasant crack climbing, max 7a. The second part, Super Elios, definitely requires a change in gear from the roofs onwards. We estimate 8b. Take a twin set of cams; bolts have been placed on sections which are otherwise unprotectable, while the belays are equipped with stainless steel bolts.