M6 Solar: first up an otherwise crowded route
A dream route in the best weather — and we were first on it, which practically never happens here.
Machine-translated from the German original. The German version is the one I actually wrote.
Dream route. Best possible weather, and we were first on it.
That’s the actual point: this route is otherwise completely overrun. Get on it second or third and you climb all day in a queue, and you catch everything the people above you kick off.
Being first makes it a different route entirely. You climb at your own pace, decide yourself where to belay, and still have time at the top.
Getting up early pays off in Chamonix more than almost anywhere else.