'Shark Attack' on Dent du Requin (Mont Blanc) by Tom Livingstone, Rob Smith

British alpinist Tom Livingstone and his American counterpart Rob Smith have established a striking new mixed climb on Dent du Requin, in the Mont Blanc massif's Envers des Aiguilles area.

The pair, who previously teamed up in 2023 to climb the NW Face of Aiguille du Blaitière, forged what they have now called Shark Attack from 4 to 6 March on the mountain's north face. The 650m line ascends the obvious grey corners in the central section of the face, then follows the skyline arete to join the Rebuffat route for the last two pitches to the summit. Difficulties are estimated to be in the region of M7 6b, and all pitches were climbed onsight.

Writing to planetmountain after the ascent, Livingstone commented "I’d seen this steep, pointed summit several times whilst journeying around the mountains, and had always been curious about it. The route is quite logical in winter, since it has a fair amount of névé. An excellent adventure which kept us guessing and with sustained climbing throughout. Excellent névé conditions in the first pitches of the route led us to a first bivy beneath the big corners. The following day we followed the corners up and occasionally rightwards to easier ground and another bivy on the ridgeline. From there we climbed to the top and descended the north side."

Livingstone explained that the climbing felt more like tackling a big alpine face in the Greater Ranges than a local peak. "As we only had a couple of bad photos of the mountain, we just followed our noses and took every pitch as it came - sometimes 15 metres of hard dry tooling and finger cracks, sometimes 55 metres of excellent neve and mixed climbing through little roofs. Class!"