“Les étoiles éternelles” (The Eternal Stars), Janjmu Peak 5205m, Nepal

In memory of Camille, Jules, Rémi, Juliette, Benj and all those who left us too soon this year.

This year we went on an expedition to the Rolwaling, in Nepal! A great team of four: Pierrot Girot, Sophie Jacob, Eric Bazot and me, Kilian Moni.

The goal was to open a new route on an unclimbed 6300m summit, the Pamalka, right at the far end of the valley past Tengi Ragi Tau.

When we arrived in Nepal, conditions were superb! A recent big snowfall that was settling, and a high-pressure system on the way! We were thrilled with the weather, but the problems were already starting… a bag full of mountain gear had vanished somewhere between flight transfers…

So we turned Kathmandu upside down to find the gear we needed, and several friends coming back from expeditions were able to help us out! Phew, we could set off with more or less the right kit! It’ll do.

Once we reached base camp at Na, at 4200m, we went straight off for several days of acclimatisation and to scout the Pamalka.

I was pretty sick on the approach and didn’t manage to acclimatise the way I wanted… I suffered a lot more than the others. We went up to 5450m to sleep and that was my limit with the illness… We came back down a bit disappointed, as the face of our peak wasn’t in condition, and on the way back, 8km from base camp, I badly twisted my ankle. Walking back was pure torture. And afterwards I couldn’t walk at all… So while the others went off to open a line on the Chekigo, I did my rehab alone at base camp.

Ten days after the sprain I could walk, but I wasn’t fit to carry loads to head back up to one of our big objectives. And this line above base camp kept catching my eye.

I watched over my friends through binoculars. And I kept looking at that line.

In the meantime, I allowed myself to go up, but not yet to walk down. That’s where paragliding brought me a lot of joy: on the menu for the day, Yalung Ri 5647m, solo climb and fly. After a 4am start to catch good flying conditions before the strong valley breeze kicked in, I found myself on the summit of this beautiful mountain five hours later. The glacier crossing was really safe, and the gully I’d picked was in superb condition for a relaxed ascent.

After that I did a superb ridge traverse to reach a glacial dome at 5610m and lay out my wing. Flying conditions were superb, with a light headwind just the way we love it! My first launch above 5000m. It’s quite something to fly among the giants!

Anyway, back to the project: the summit appears to be unnamed and has never been climbed. Needless to say, it had me dreaming.

So I continued my rehab, alone at base camp. Day by day I gained mobility and walked better and better, though I still couldn’t hope to go back up to altitude.

Then, when the others came down from the Chekigo, Soso seemed just as drawn to the line as I was. The weather window was still holding and I felt up for going onto the face, with my big boots laced up tight. The approach was short, and the descent probably would be too. So while Rico and Pierrot headed off to Chukiyma Go, Soso and I went off for a proper one-day adventure.

After knocking out the approach in the dark, we front-pointed up perfect hard snow.

The first pitches set the tone: thin ice smears, then unprotectable but stunning mixed climbing. The crux came quickly on the third pitch, just before we reached the central snowfield, and it clearly gave me a hard time. My ankle held up well and I felt calm mentally, ready to commit and push on. After a huge battle, both mental and physical, I finally topped out that crazy pitch: fairly good, cracked rock, slightly overhanging.

Then came ice pitches worthy of the Cogne classics, steep and exposed ice smears and playful mixed. A succession of corners, steps and chimneys, each pitch more beautiful than the last.

13 hours after setting off and 14 pitches later, we topped out on the summit, euphoric, happy, weightless, as if outside of time.

What intensity: opening a route on an unclimbed summit in the middle of the Himalaya. It may not be very high, but given my physical state, I couldn’t have asked for more! It falls well short of my original hopes, but it’s still a wonderful experience. Because in the Alps, there are no obvious lines like this one left to open.