Beyond Good and Evil 

Benjamin Ocepek & Jon Murua
Beyond Good and Evil, Aiguille de Pélerins
3,318m ED M5
Winter ascend of this outstanding mixed climbing route that is rarely in conditions.
Date: 11.1.2020
Video edit: Thelma Chavonnet: / tcbeautyx
Transcript:
They say that this route is a benchmark in alpinisme.
Many alpinists want to test themselves against it to check that they are able to climb at this level.
It is graded as extremely hard.
On the one hand side because of its technical difficulty and on the other hand for the scarce protection points.
We have to be very comfortable climbing at this level because falling is not an option.
This route in the North Face of Aiguille de Pelerins is hardly ever in conditions.
Years and years can pass by unclimbeable.
I think it wasn't in conditions in the last 7 years!
It needs a thin layer on ice attached to the vertical wall.
This only happens under very specific meteorological circumstances:
Cold, but not too cold.
Wet, but not too wet.
Snow, but no wind.
Temperature contrast between day and night.
And all of this sustained during many weeks to form a thin layer of ice.
The fall of 2019 was particularly bad in terms of weather. It snowed very often, but generally combined with strong winds.
North faces didn't get a good cover.
In December, the bad weather continued, but for about 10 days, the wind stopped blowing.
When the sun started shining again, from the Chamonix town, we could see with our bare eyes a nice white line going along the whole route, from the very bottom up to the summit.
It didn't take long for the first local alpinists to try it, climb it and for the news to spread quickly.
Everybody wanted to take the opportunity to test themselves against this reference.
There was no time to wait. This conditions could only last a handful of days.
I could sense the 'now or never' feeling from many of my colleagues and that was contagious.
There were an average of 8 people climbing it every day, during the week and I feared the weekend would be even more crowded.
The Saturday we went, we were 14 people!
That is far too many for this route, specially for the danger of falling ice.
The teams started arriving at the crux and they started creating a traffic jam.
A North face is not the place to be stuck in the cold waiting for others.
We lost about 2 hours waiting. These 2 hours are 2 hours less we had before it got dark.
In winter this is important as the days are very short.
We had assumed we might finish in the dark and we were prepared. We took it easy and kept going smoothly.
The first pitches were relatively easy, it was mainly snow with some steep thin ice sections. However, there was nothing, NOTHING to protect. I would have about 20 metres of runouts where a fall would be...
... I couldn't fall, this was like solo climbing.
Fully concentrated, full of adrenaline, we easily arrived at the crux 2 pitches.
Famous diedre which can be seen from Chamonix.
The conditions were fantastic!
A thin layer of ice, thick enough to climb comfortably without having to use the rock.
Benjamin climbed it easily and I followed after.
The second crux was harder mentally.
It was steep and delicate, but it didn't feel technically too hard. Although, there was nothing to protect. So engaged! Don't look down!
The route keeps going on a similar difficulty. It is very sustained all the way up until the summit.
The teams would start to spread giving is the space to climb non stop.
Soon, we started crossing the teams that were already descending!
Those were the first teams that didn't make it to the summit, they bailed 3 pitches from the summit.
In fact, we ended up being the only team that made it to the summit, everybody else descended where the route crosses Rebuffat Terray.
When we reached this crossing, we understood why.
The last 3 pitches of the original beyond good and evil were completely dry!
I had a look at the topo to double check the description which said: delicate, exposed, doubtful rock and suspended anchor.
What a combo!
The exit via Rebuffat Terray was in limit conditions, but possible. These last 3 pitches of Rebuffat are actually technically harder than the crux of beyond. That was a nice finish!
These last pitches were fantastic!
Steep, technical with good protection points.
The sun set as I was climbing the last pitch.
The lights of Chamonix started to shine, while the sky started to turn orange to slowly slowly get dark.
Gear used in the route:
Crampons: Petzl Dart
Boots: La Sportiva G5X
Ice axes: Petzl Nomic
Harness: Mammut Zephyr Alpine
Gloves: Simond Cascade & Black Diamon Soloist finger
Helmet: Petzl Sirocco
Ropes: Mammut Twilight
Camera: Go Pro Session 5
Music credit:
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