Jean-Christophe Lafaille is attempting the first winter ascent of Makalu (8481m), without oxygen and solo. Several expeditions have attempted Makalu in winter without success. Lafaille made the first winter ascent of an 8000'er when he climbed Shishapangma (8036m) in December 2004.
Cy "But what's he ever done on grit" is a joke. It means that unless you have climbed on God's rock (UK gritstone around the Peak and Yorkshire), that most sacred stone, closest to every English climber's heart, then you can not call yourself a proper climber. Everything else is just practice for the real thing (real thing = gritstone). When in reality gritstone has typically been the place where the greats of UK climbing have cut their teeth and then graduated to bigger (not necessarily better of course ;0) things like Makalu, Everest, K2, El Cap, Baffin etc And make no mistake Mr. Palm Springs if it wasn't for a thorough gritstone apprenticeship the greats like Joe Brown, Don Whillans, Doug Scott, Sir Chris, Joe Tasker, Al Rouse, Joe Simpson, John Dunne, Kevin Thaw, Ian Parnell, Johnny Dawes etc etc etc would not have elevated to loftier heights. So when someone starts bragging that some mere French man (or any Johnny Foreigner) is soloing some piddly mound of snow when it is very very cold the typical British response is to put you down and in your place with "But what's he ever done on grit." I think. Mick
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