Weekend Whipper: Big Fall Off One of the World’s Hardest Trad Routes

Readers, please send your Weekend Whipper videos, information, and any lessons learned to Anthony Walsh, awalsh@outsideinc.com. 

Earlier this month, James Pearson made the first ascent of what is likely one of the hardest trad routes in the world: Bon Voyage in Annot, France.

Pearson chose not to grade the route (for various reasons, which you can learn more about here) but allow us to contextualize: Bon Voyage shares the easy opening section and first boulder problem of Pearson’s 2017 route, Le Voyage (E10 or bold 5.14), and then veers left across “a layer of bullet-hard sandstone dotted with tiny pockets” before powering up a technical rounded arête. 

The video picks up during this tiny-pocket traverse: Pearson is half-crimping those miserable sandstone divots, trying to punch it to the arête while a lone finger-sized cam stares on in anticipation.

Pearson assures that the fall is safe—so long as the cam holds and you don’t fall off after the crux, while gaining the arête, which, terrifyingly, he nearly did on his successful redpoint. Any combination of those mistakes would leave you uncomfortably close to the deck. 

Well, bravo, James! We’re glad you didn’t go splat.

Happy Friday, and be safe out there this weekend.

Watch more Weekend Whippers:

• Steel Perma Draw Snaps at the Red
• Light Belayer Serves Up Soft Decking
• Why Belayers Should Always Wear a Helmet

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