Symon Welfringer at Annot repeats Le Voyage, France’s hardest trad climb

28-year-old French climber Symon Welfringer has made the fifth ascent of Le Voyage, James Pearson’s 2017 masterpiece at Annot hailed as the most difficult trad climbs in France. The E10 7a boasts 8b+ climbing on trad gear and after laying dormat for a few years, was repeated by Jacopo Larcher, Siebe Vanhee and Barbara Zangerl in 2021. Welfringer, who toproped the line clean prior to his ascent, is one of France’s most complete alpinists; he has previously climbed sport routes up to 8c+ and after important ascents across the Alps and in the Greater Ranges, last year he was awarded a Piolet d’Or for his ascent of the south face of Sani Pakkush (6951m) in the Himalaya with Pierrick Fine in autumn 2020. Here’s his report.

MY VOYAGE by Symon Welfringer
It’s always been one of my dreams to climb a route like this, in my opinion the epitome of the beauty of climbing: a pure line that follows the natural weaknesses for 45m, a smooth wall without any in-situ equipment and which needs protecting with trad gear that is more or less solid. Up exceptional quality rock and past incredible moves. So many superlatives for a lump of rock, I know, but it was highly exciting to climb this Voyage.

I'd heard about this route a while ago, first when it was still an extreme project down in some dingy place, and this description didn’t really motivate much and actually completely underplayed the beauty of this line. In 2017 grit maestro James Pearson got to work on this project and ended up freeing what he would call Le voyage which is nothing less than the hardest trad climb in France. After his ascent, the route remained relatively under cover and was only recently repeated by only a few other climbers.

I actually waited a while before trying this route, firstly for fear of its difficulty but also because of the psycholgical commitment, the E10 grade corresponds to a substantial commitment above sometimes bad pro. At the end of winter I feel pretty fit and ready to tackle this legend, first though on top-rope.

After trying to figure out the beta 4 times I managed to climb the route on toprope; it's a very technical 8b+ with a fairly short and hard crux section is physically demanding, but it’s also tricky to place your feet properly on the tiny, sandy footholds. I invested a lot of time adjusting my beta as I continued to shoot off the holds, but after these first sessions I felt fairly confident. I’d found the right gear placements and knew which needed placing with the left hand, which with the right. Slowly but surely I figured out my own little strategy.

One section particularly struck me, halfway up, where the route traverses left between two cracks across a row of small pockets. This section is exceptional and protected by a rather exotic ball-nut cam. I felt ready to return and try to climb the route, placing the pro on lead.

A month later I felt particularly fit, I’dd redpointed another 8c and felt confident. My first attempt though at placing gear quickly put me in my place, the tension was palpable, with each move, I was afraid. Not necessarily of falling off, but it’s this feeling that’s so particular to trad climbs, you look up and there’s nothing above you, no quickdraws, no bolts, only a flared crack, small chalked pockets. You feel very alone.

I couldn't send it and fell off the hard middle section three times. I redid this section on top-rope and it seemed rather straightforward, it not longer felt difficult. But with my first attempts in mind, I quickly realised that the real problem was far more than simply climbing a classic 8b+: managing gear placements in addition to dealing with the rests and finding the right rhythm in the crux sections would require a bigger margin.

In the crux I chose to place a cam which although making things significantly more difficult, allowed me to deal with the last hard moves calmly. Without this pro, you’re looking at a 15m drop onto a mini wire. I knew though that placing this cam would really sap my strength.

Last Monday I was upset, I felt weak mentally. I thought I could try the route 3 or 4 times a day, but I'd only made 3 attempts in 2 days and still I felt exhausted, not physically, but mentally. It felt like every attempt wore me down mentally like no other route I'd tried before. I tried to remain positive by telling myself that "at worst I'll be back next weekend", but the weather forecast was disastrous, today was the day or I’d have to wait for a long time. As if I wasn't stressed enough already!

I give it a go and on the first section, a mere 7a, the initail sensations are terribile and I almost fall off several times. Yet strangely, the higher I go, and the lighter my harness becomes as I place the few pieces of gear, the better I feel, the more liberated I become. In the crux section everything goes as planned, I'm powerful and precise, I rush to the jug with a victory scream. But the route isn't over, there's another 10m up a loose flake where placing gear isn't recommended as you might rip off a fridge-sized block of sandstone. Nevertheless I still place a "psychological" cam, my last solid anchor is more than 15m below me, the moves are no longer extreme but you have to remain focused.

To finish, there's a crack with hand and finger jams. Each jam requires all I’ve got and, without gloves, my skin is bleeding, I dig in even harder. And then all of a sudden that’s it, the belay is there in front of me, I’m overcome with immense joy, I release the stress, my fears. I am happy. Here I am at the top of the toughest trad route in France, and I'm the first Frenchman to do so! It's not the hardest, but surely the most beautiful route I've had the chance to climb!

Thank you Manon Bérend, belaying someone on this kind of route is almost as stressful as climbing it! And congratulations to James Pearson for freeing one of the most beautiful climbs I know. Thanks for the info and the inspiration Benjamin Guigonnet, it’s now your turn! And, last but not least, thanks Marc Daviet for having captured this magic moment.

by Symon Welfringer

Symon Welfringer thanks: La Sportiva, Petzl, Millet