Solveig Korherr: “Histoire sans Fin” 8b+ (10 pitches)

One of the most stunning and hardest granite multi-pitches in Europe, located on the Petite Clocher (2,823 m) in the Swiss Alps.

Solveigs Story:

In August, when my summer break from studying finally started, I met Soline in Valais to begin our big mission. On the first climbing day, I definitely overdid it. I felt sore, sick and exhausted afterwards, and we had to go down earlier than expected. Luckily, I slowly started recovering and adapting to the long days on the wall. 

We were making progress, but with time running out, we weren’t sure whether we could free all the pitches individually. So we started considering a team ascent, splitting the four hardest pitches between us.

After some bad weather, we had just one final day. Even though we went up with the idea of a team ascent, I still wanted to give every pitch my best and see what happened.

Soline sent the 7c+ crack and I followed her. Afterwards, I sent the 7c traverse, which is quite bouldery and fingery.

Next came the 8b+. I fell on my first try but found a few small details to change in my beta. On my second attempt, I gave everything and, with a few power screams, made it to the top.

Then came the 8b arete, a pitch that had felt far from possible for me before. After Soline fell heartbreakingly close to the anchor, I gave it a try. To my surprise, everything felt much better. I fell once, but suddenly I knew it could go.

After just a few minutes of rest, I tried again. I made it through the arete and into the spicy traverse, a section I had barely checked before. From the belay, Soline shouted: “When you don’t know what to do, just full-crimp the shit out of the holds like you always do!” So that’s pretty much what I did. Somehow, I managed to stick the final move and reach the good hold. I couldn’t believe it.

I had one more hard pitch: the 8a+ slab. Not my favorite style and I knew it was about to get painful, especially since I already had some bleeding fingers. I tried to climb as controlled as possible, again and again, full-crimping everything and being precise, especially because the end is quite runout. Sending the pitch, I felt quite touched.
One last easy pitch ahead and Soline and I were standing on the summit, celebrating with a Twix - the last snack we had left. What a way to finish this whole adventure! Can someone pinch me?!

Photos:  Emile Pino @pinopictures