Andy Kirkpatrick and Ian Parnell made the coveted second ascent of the Lafaille route on the Dru over an epic filled three weeks finishing this Tuesday. Established last February by French alpine superstar Jean Christophe Lafaille the line included difficulties up to M7 and one of the few A5 pitches in Europe.It was widely presumed to be amongst the hardest routes in the Alps. Kirkpatrick and Parnell´s repeat (to the routes junction with the original North Face route after 27 pitches) was marked by a catalogue of set backs ranging from no bolt hangers that would fit the belays, to a haulbag dropped 300m, a destroyed portaledge, almost continuous snowfall through to “the world´s vaguest topo”.As a result of this the pair inadvertantly made numerous variations including bypassing the A5 crux.They did however climb around half a dozen A4 pitches and one of Scottish VII/VIII. The pair also filmed their ascent working with Sheffield filmmaker Karen Barber with the hope to produce a gritty record of cutting edge alpinism.
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