11 Days in the Drus

At 31, and with four world climbing championship titles to her name, Catherine Destivelle had already amassed numerous mountaineering achievements, notably the ascent of the Trango Tower in the Karakoram and the Bonatti Pillar on the Drus. On June 24 and July 4, 1991, she attempted to open a new route on the notoriously difficult west face of the Drus: alone, unsupported, and carrying 80 kilos of equipment. After 11 days and 11 nights battling the cold and the rock, on July 4, 1991, Catherine Destivelle reached the summit of the Drus. Following this solitary odyssey on one of the most beautiful faces in the Alps, the climbing star became a renowned mountaineer. Today, despite this line having disappeared in the major collapses of the Drus in the 2000s, Catherine Destivelle will become the first woman to have climbed the three great north faces of the Alps: the Grandes Jorasses, the Matterhorn and the Eiger – solo.