Voie Anderson, Mont Maudit, Mont Blanc snowboard and ski descent

Let's start with a minor correction: saying "small group of passionate Italian skiers" is somewhat of an understatement: Francesco Civra Dano is a Mountain Guide, Gianluca Marra is an aspiring Mountain Guide, Luca Rolli is currently doing the Guide's course while Davide Capozzi has a truly outstanding vertical curriculum.

On Wednesday 21 April the four alpinists ascended the historic Voie Anderson, located between the routes Roger Baxter Jones and Filo d'Arianna on the East Face of Mont Maudit. The circa 400m high route is graded III D and was first climbed in 1888 by J. S Anderson, F. A Bowlby, Hans Amler and Abraham Imseng.

The four reached a point beneath the crest and then descended with skis and snowboards. "The descent" Capozzi stated in his blog "started just beneath the NE crest of Maudit and went down the wedged gully to some snow slopes, then continued down right to reach a rocky section. A 20m abseil led to the final slope above the bergschrund. The descent faces east and receives the early morning sun. We descended when the snow started to freeze once again... making things a bit more difficult. The descend is 450m long, angled 50°/55° (5.4 E3)."

The descent is interesting and important above all because it's located in the Mont Blanc range, where almost everything skiable has been skied. According to Capozzi "there's a great number of people who ski this sort of stuff and there's a lot of competition, above all from foreigners (Americans, Scandinavians and French). There's a big difference between a first descent here and a first descent elsewhere."


Davide Capozzi - major descents in the Mont Blanc range
Mont Blanc, 4810 mt Face West, Via De Benedetti, 45/55° TD+ (1st descent)
Mont Blanc, 4810mt Sperone della Brenva and Glacier Brenva, 45°/50° TD
Mont Blanc, Brèche N des Dames Anglaises, 3491 mt, couloir NE, 55° TD (1st descent)
Grandes Jorasses, 4208 mt. Face Sud, 45°/50° D+
Mt Blanc du Tacul, 4248 mt Couloir Gervasutti, 45/55° TD
Mt Blanc du Tacul, 4248 mt Couloir Jager, 50/55° TD+
Mt Blanc du Tacul, 4048 mt Col du Diable, Couloir Macho 45/50° TD
Les Droites, 4000 mt Sommet W, 45/50° TD
Les Courtes, 3856 mt Face S, 45°/50° TD
Les Courtes, 3856 mt Eperon NE, 45°/55° TD
Les Courtes, 3856 mt Face NNE, 45°/50° D+
Les Courtes, 3856 mt. Couloir Direct S, 45°/50° TD
Col des Courtes, 3612 mt. Face NE, 50°/55° D
Col des Cristaux, 3601 mt Face NE, 45° D
Col de l’Amone, 3540 mt. Couloir SW, 45°/50° D
Col Armand Charlet, 3998 mt Couloir S, 50°/55° TD
Col du Tacul, 3337 mt Couloir N du Capucin, 45°/50° D+
Aiguille Verte, 4122 mt. Couloir Whymper, 45°/55° TD+
Aiguille du Chardonnet, 3823 mt Face W, 45°/55° TD
Aiguille d'Argentière, Couloir Barbey, 45°/50° D+
Aiguille du Gouter, 3817 mt Couloir Pollux, 650 mt 45° D
Aiguille Eboulement, 3599 mt Couloir S, 45° D
Aiguille du Toula, 3534 mt Face N, 45°/55° D+
Aiguille du Tacul, 3444 mt Face N, 45° D
Aiguillettes du Tacul, 3913 mt Couloir E, 50° TD
Aiguillettes du Tacul,3919 mt Couloir SW,45° D+
Tour Ronde, 3792 mt Face N, 50/55° TD
Tour Ronde, 3792 mt Couloir Gervasutti, 45/50° D+
Tour Ronde, 3792 mt Couloir S Glacier Brenva, 45° D+
Tour Ronde, 3627 mt. Col Est, 50° D
Triangle du Tacul, 3970 mt Voie Contamine Negri, 50/55° TD
Trident 3661 face N, 55° TD
Calotte de la Brenva, 3703 mt Couloir NE,45°/50° AD
Noire, 3402 mt Face Nord, 40/50° TD
Mont Mallet , 3800 mt Face W, 50°/45° D+
Petit Mont Blanc, 3424 mt Couloir NE, 40/50° TD
Tète Carré, 3726 mt Couloir E, 40/50° D+
Breche Puiseux, 3432 mt. Couloir SW, 45°/50° D+
Dent de Geant, 3970 mt Face SE, 45°/50° D+