Yes, this baby has earned a rare Mega Classic from me. 8 pitches, and not one of them less than "very good" in my books. The initial 4 very thin slab pitches lead to 4 steep and punchy pitches (including a tufa!) on the headwall. Seriously Alpine temps (we almost bailed after multiple pitches of screaming barfies) and we were obliged to tow way more cold weather gear than I ever have on a rock climb before. Led P2, P5, P6, P7, and P8, and 2nd clean all other pitches. Very psyched to onsight the nails and exposed 7a pitch (stuck the crux boulder by the skin of my teeth), but the ascent was marred by a fall at the end of the tufa boulder on the first 6c pitch. The last pitch became a shemozzle as we raced the darkess to the top to find the rap anchors in daylight.
If you did the variant 6a+ last pitch instead of the 6c+ pitch, this would be the Bunny Bucket Buttress of the Verdon. Each pitch is better than the last, and the top 3 are rad and hard! I led the odd-numbered pitches (linked p3 & 4), and was stoked to onsight the crux final pitch in the rain. Stunning nails blank 40m slab that kept me fighting the whole way. Did the 200m abseil in torrential rain, hid in a cave for 3 hours, then had an epic retreat across the flooded verdon river via tyrolean.
- with
Stephen Varney