New mixed climb on Aiguille de la Brenva in Mont Blanc massif by Niccolò Bruni, Gianluca Marra, Giovanni Ravizza

Aiguille de la Brenva. The mountain's East Face has always caught my attention, so clearly visible from the Punta Helbronner and Pavillon cable car stations; I always see it when I take the cable car and my eye kept noticing a couple of lines. Great mountaineers such as Gabriele Boccalatte, Gaston Rébuffat, Arturo Ottoz, Giorgio Bertone and Cosimo Zappelli have all left their mark here, and sooner or later I knew I would like to lay my hands on it.

The first time Giovanni Ravizza and I tried our luck on Aiguille de la Brenva was in early March when we set off to repeat Ezio Marlier and Massimo Farina's 2003 route Stop the War. Not being in condition, we resorted to repeated the Grassi-Bonfanti couloir, established by Giancarlo Grassi and Elio Bonfanti solo on 6 May 1989 and rated AD+/D at the time. There were no belays on the route and we decided to equip them with pegs and nuts, as in the past. The route nowadays, with two M5 pitches, is upgraded to TD+. Conditions back then were obviously completely different to now.

A few days later we returned, this time as a group of three as we were joined by our friend and colleague Gianluca Marra. The idea was to climb a line to the right of the Grassi-Bonfanti gully which I'd kept my eyes on through my binoculars for a couple of weeks. The couloir provided us with 350 meters of pure pleasure. We were super enthusiastic with every pitch, because everyone was different from the one before, with consistent difficulties and the ever-present little surprise. The route offers M6 difficulties on many pitches and we've decided to grade it ED-. We only left in-situ the stainless steel bolted belays with abseil ring. The result, Nati Liberi, is a very beautiful mixed climb that exceeded our expectations.

by Niccolò Bruni

TOPO: Nati Liberi, Aiguille de la Brenva, Mont Blanc

Link: www.guidecourmayeur.com