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Line van den Berg and Fay Manners make first female ascent of Phantom Direct on Grandes Jorasses

On the 26th of January 2022 Line van den Berg from the Netherlands and Fay Manners from Great Britain have made the first female ascent of 'Phantom Direct', also referred to as 'Via in memoria di Gianni Comino', established in 1985 on the south face of the Grandes Jorasses in the Mont Blanc massif by Giancarlo Grassi, Renzo Luzi and Mauro Rossi.

Planetmountain

February 2022

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Fay Manners in the gully systems on the first half of Phantom Direct (Via in memoria di Gianni Comino) on the South Face of the Grandes Jorasses while making the first female ascent with Line van den Berg on 26/01/2022

Line van den Berg

Line van den Berg from the Netherlands and Fay Manners from Great Britain have made the first female ascent and what is likely to be only the 5th ascent overall of Phantom Direct on the huge south face of the Grandes Jorasses in the Mont Blanc massif. Established by Giancarlo Grassi, Renzo Luzi and Mauro Rossi in June 1985 and also referred to as Via in memoria di Gianni Comino, the 1400m line is known as one of the longest - if not the longest - ice route in the Alps. After lying idle for 35 years, the climb was finally repeated for the first time in January 2020 by Frenchmen Yann Borgnet and Charles Dubouloz. The third ascent was carried out by Martin Elias, Simón Elias and Iker Madoz on 19 January this year.

29-year-old Van den Berg and 35-year-old Manners completed their ascent on 26 January in a remarkable, single push from the valley. The pair initially shared the approach through Val Ferret with Carlo Filippi from Italy and Thomas Wuyts from Belgium, but after these steered clear after the Bergschrund, the two teams climbed independently.

Van den Berg and Manners lost precious time at the start breaching the inconsistent snow on the Bergschrund where Manners fell twice before Van den Berg took the lead, but after this the pair made steady progress, past steep ice to reach the traverse and the "point of no return". Despite it being late in the day, 13:45 instead of 12:00 as planned, the pair decided to push on. "I look Fay into her eyes, and before I can start my plea for us to continue – I am psyched and feel confident with the sleeping bag and stove in our bags that we will not freeze to death in case of an epic – I can tell she feels the same. We are in it for the adventure." is how Van den Berg describes this moment.

The two continued simul-climbing upwards. As the sun set the warmth was immediately replaced by biting cold and this, coupled with fatigue, resulted in them slowing down considerably. The Hirondelles ridge, exposed to merciless winds, felt eternal yet they persevered and summited Pointe Walker at midnight. The descent to Rifugio Boccalette took longer than expected due to the cold and exhaustion, which they reached 30 hours after having set off. After recuperating, they descended to Courmayeur later that day and celebrated with a well-deserved pizza.

Writing after their climb, Van den Berg stated "The unknown, the adventure, on the south face of the Grand Jorasses, with my British twin Fay. It just feels massive!! The whole rest of the day I live on adrenaline, on a high from our experience. We sleep like babies the next night, despite both waking up with tingly, numb fingers. The cold wind on the summit has damaged them slightly, but we can eat cake hence we are fine. Psyched for more*! * cake of course!"

Van den Berg and Manners started climbing together only last winter after Van den Berg, in search of a female climbing partner, reached out to Manners. The two climbed Grand Capucin with friends before teaming up to venture along the Peuterey Integral last summer. This January they endured cold days camping in the Combe Maudit amphitheatre where they climbed Filo di Arianna and Goulotte Surcouf on Mont Maudit.

For a detailed report about their ascent check out lainfromthemountain.wordpress.com

Line van den Berg
29-year-old Line van den Berg from the Netherlands completed her PhD in logic in Grenoble in 2021 and will be starting a job as a researcher in Bern in April 2022. In the Alps she focuses mainly on technical mixed climbs such as the Supercouloir and Rebuffat-Terray, and highlights include the Peuterey Integral as well as three new routes in Kyrgyzstan in 2018.

Fay Manners
Based in Chamonix, 35-year-old Fay Manners from Great Britain works as an independent data consultant. Despite the lack of lift access last year, she succeeded in climbing various committing alpine routes starting from the Chamonix valley including Lagarde direct on Les Droites, the Frendo Spur on Aiguille du Midi and Goulotte Charlet-Couturier on Mont Dolent. While alpine climbing is her first love, she has recently developed as a steep skier, tackling descents such as the north face of Aiguille de Mesure, La Forteresse on Dents du Midi and Angelique couloir on Les Courtes.