Alpes Angels

I found the line for our first ascent by one of the few photos of this wall - beta information about the north face of Sans Nom is scarce. The line is logical and I was still wondering why no one had climbed it yet. There was only one way to solve this riddle...
We matched up with Mejla during our previous ascents in High Tatras. I am in charge of planning, managing, organizing, climbing, cooking, pulling. Mejla is in charge of belaying, picking lengths, yumming, car, refueling, greasing bread, etc. Just everything is fine-tuned to the last detail. Our climbing takes place in a peaceful atmosphere. Mejla does not talk much, I'm most of the time in the "zone" on the first and time flies by at breakneck speed. Our climbing is interrupted only by the occasional "cancel", "yellow on fix", "on red pull", "pull". We're both having the time of our lives. I, separated from my four children and stressful work, meditate deeply, contemplating and harmonizing my mind and body. Mejla is enjoying himself.
"Bonjour madam, deux billets en Grand Montets, s'il vous plaît", I proudly sprinkle on the sympathetic cashier at the Argentière. Half an hour later, below the Petit Verte, we are already painting the snow golden and craning our necks at the panorama of the Montblanc massif. It's late afternoon and we feel weak after a 12-hour ride form Czech. Our legs are buckling under the weight of our haulbags. Considering the fact that we do not know what the next few days have in store for us, we are probably carrying too much. Packing was done with a constant barrage of questions. Are we going to have to aid? Will 15 pitons be enough? More smaller friends or big Camalots? Hooks ? Food for four or five days? I prefer more gas. How many icescrews? What about tricams?
We throw the pigs under the wall and dig a platform for the tent just near the rock. The beautiful sunset perfectly recharges us for the next challenging day. The wake-up at four o'clock and the first lengths give an idea why no one has embarked on this adventure yet. Vertically layered, very broken rock (called fishbacks). Just do not drop anything, cut the rope or kill Mejla. Even a third-generation gri-gri wouldn't help him. Gentle sections are interspersed with overhanging corners where the axes travel to the harness and the power of the spirit is complemented by the power of the fingers.
I climb the harder pitches without a haulbag and then I find it difficult to pull it behind me on the stand. Mejla jumars with backpack. From below it looked like occasional aiding, but surprisingly everything goes free OS. One more small boulder with a haulbag on the back and we are on the ridge. Nice place for a bivouac, but we still have enough time, so we just brew something to drink and continue on. Over the innocent serac we get to the middle ice field. A crack cuts it in the middle, perfect for a bivvy and our two-man tent. The sunset again paints the sky all shades of red.
On the third day again wake-up at four and climbing again. Several ice lengths bring us below the key part of the climb - a long overhanging corner with a sharp rib sticking out of its centre like a shark's fin. The rib is rumbling and where possible I prefer to use nuts instead of friends - they stretch the crack less in case of a fall and there is less risk that the whole rib will end up in Mejla's arms. Higher up, the joint widens and only the Camalot #4 really helps. The ice-axes are already on the harness, the crampons are tuning the millimetre rails and I am overcoming the shark fin with the last of my strength.
The next length is very confusing, I still can't decide whether to go the overhanging crack to the left or right, so I choose to take a few steps over A1. I try to push to the right, where the photo showed the possibility of passing through the slab zone. After many attemps I go to the left.
The next picth lead us to the Gabarrou-Silva route. The difficulties end, but instead of a suitable spot for a bivouac, fatigue sets in. We climb in Gabrarrou's line for a while and then it drops us to the right again. There is only rock and ice with a 75° slope. The third sunset warms our tired backs while digging a half square meter shelf. The night needs no description.
On the morning of the fourth day we already feel the peak. Perhaps because of this, our pot disappears into the valley, meaning the end of the water and therefore the quickest way down - actually up. In the next length the ice-screw and the carabiner disappears in the valley - good thing Mejla stayed at least. We stretch the lengths as far as we can, often climbing in parallel. The packs are still heavy, but the summit is near. Finally, I'm on the ridge, looking at the Grandes Jorasses. The sun is just rising and opening our blindfolded eyes. But joy does not come. It's too soon. The soul is still in deep meditation. We have a difficult descent ahead of us. Just as we ascended an unknown wall, the descent is a complete ride in the dark. Rapel down? But which way exactly? How many rappels will it be - ten or twenty? Well, never mind, here we go.
After fifteen rappels, after a few curses during the rope-stuck when I had to switch from "down" mode to "up-again" mode, after many adandoned friends and most importantly total dryness (100% sun, 0% water in the bottle) we landed on the Charpoua glacier. That late afternoon is the worst time to cross a broken glacier, you can read in every guidebook. But as in the first part, the Alpine Angels stood by us this time too. With a beautiful sunset, we enjoy the last steps to the Charpoua hut. From there, the story continues with a barbaric thirst-quenching, a divinely good night's sleep, an angelically beautiful descent and an ungodly expensive train ride from Montenvers via Chamonix to Argentière, only to find ourselves back at our car full of sausages and other goodies on the fifth day.

Friends BD Camalot C4 vel. 0.25-4 (medium size 2x)
WC nuts size 5-13
Slings 60 (10x) and 120cm (8x).
8 ice screws
4 pitons (2x stem, 2x knife)
full 9.8mm rope (60m) and haulcord 7.9mm (70m)

The name of the route "Alpes Angels" refers to the divine grace that allowed us to spend such a wonderful week without harm. Whether it is the first third of the face with loose rocks, or the key passage with the rumbling rib, tightening the rope while rappelling, or crossing the Charpoua glacier in total steam. The evil tongues that claim the name of the route is derived from the name of a nightclub in Chamonix, which Bača never fails to visit during his trips, are wrong.

The summit of Sans Nom (3982m) rises in a ridge extending from the Drus towers to the Aiguille Verte, Its north face rises from the Nant Blanc glacier. The lower part of the wall consists of a huge rock massif supporting a hanging glacier, which transitions into a steep rock face studded with spruces of ice. Until the 1970s, this wall had only two ascents by the master Armand Charlet (no, it is not the one founded by Charlet-Moser, now part of Petzl, it was Jermarn Charlet). Then English specialists Joe Brown (rock) and Tom Patey (mix climbing) stepped in. Their route is still today (in its original line) a very serious route in this wall.
However, the real milestone of modern times was the climb made in 1978 by Patrick Gabarrou and his half-brother Philippe Silvy. Rock climbing 6c/A2 (loosely M8) in the lower part and difficult mix climbing in the upper part make this route one of the challenges of modern alpinism.
And then other big names appeared on the scene: Simon Richardson, Stevie Haston, Francois Marsigny, Mark Twight, Scott Backes, Valeri Babanov, Andy Parkin, Jules Cartwright, Nick Bullock, Christoph Dumarest... this list looks like a phone book of the best alpinists of recent years. The line climbed by Mark Twight and Scott Backes, "There Goes the Neighborhood", impressed the French climbing scene so much that Mark became enemy number one in Chamonix. Mark himself thinks this route is the hardest he has climbed in the Alps and sees the problems with the French climbing elite as a battle of decaying classics (the French) against trained modernists (the Twights).
To add a first ascent in this wall is to make a notch on the rifle butt of the best mountaineering company.