Jonas Schild repeats Le Voyage at Annot in France

Jonas Schild from Switzerland has repeated Le Voyage, the E10 trad climb at Annot in France established by James Pearson in 2017. Hailed as the hardest trad climb in France, this outing follows an obvious line of weakness past shallow pockets and flared cracks for circa 40 meters and was repeated in May 2021 by Barbara Zangerl, Jacopo Larcher and Siebe Vanhee, and in March 2022 by Symon Welfringer.

A first trip last autumn resulted in a clean ascent on toprope on day 2, which bode well for a return trip over the new year. Unfortunately things didn't go according to plan. He fell ill and, after two days of effort and with a bad weather forecast, he decided to call it quick. In the afternoon of day 3 he returned to the crag to retrieve his stashed gear but on the spur of the moment decided to give it one last go.

The Swiss mountain guide explained "When I was standing under the wall, I could not accept to go home without trying it anyway. So I warmed up a bit on the hang-board and noticed that it didn't feel so bad. So I said to myself, just try it. Already in the lower easy part I realized that it was the right decision. Completely to my surprise, I was suddenly hanging on the slopers above the crux. Now I was really nervous. The last section is no longer very difficult but mentally demanding because you have to climb a wide runout on loose rock. With completely pumped forearms and the fear in the neck, I came also through this passage and could clip shortly before sunset the anchor. Quelle Voyage!"

Schild is no newcomer to hard routes. In May 2022 he repeated the 8c crack climb Gondo Crack at Cippo in Switzerland, while in May 2021 he made a rare repeat of Bain de Sang at Saint Loup.

Links: www.jonasschild.ch, La Sportiva, Mammut, SCOTT