Séb Berthe flashes Le Voyage 8b (+) trad/mix, Mathieu and Phillips redpoint

Séb Berthe, who did La Rambla (9a+) in January, has flashed James Pearson's Le Voyage in Annot, which is an 8b (+) trad with two fixed threads. In total, the superb line has now been repeated ten times, out of which five in the last month, including ascents this week by
Mathieu Miquel and Robbie Phillips, who took the picture of Séb.

Berthe: "I thought about trying this route since the first time I saw info from Jame Pearson doing the first ascent back in 2017. The wall and the route looked so perfect. Then when Jacopo, Siebe and Babsi did it not long ago, I thought it would be nice and challenging to give it a ground-up attempt. At the beginning of this week, I went for a short trip to Annot (France) in order to give a ground-up attempt. I knew I was in great shape and I took the opportunity of having my Scottish friend Robbie Phillips working the route so I could have good info about the route and the betas.

I spent one entire day looking at the route, collecting betas and info from Robbie and Mathieu Miquel (a french young climber who also sent it this week). I also spent quite some time watching videos and pictures from all the previous ascensionists. I had to remember everything: footholds, handholds, gears, ... There is so much info to keep in mind... How and where to put the gear? Where to rest? What beta to choose depending on my fatigue? I am really proud of the work I made there, a true studying mission.

On the day of the ascent, I woke up a bit nervous... Always the case with flash attempts: you only have one chance ahah. I warmed-up (which didn't start that well actually because I fell on my second 7a 😅😂), organized my harness with gears put in the good side of the harness and the right order, revisualised the route in my mind,... and went for it in the middle of the afternoon. The conditions were not that good, it was warm, but there was a small and nice breeze and I was too excited to wait for another day.

On the first easy part, I didn't climb very well: I was shaky and nervous. But as soon as the hard part began I felt better and climbed really fast with a great flow. I didn't make many mistakes (apart from one moment where I almost fell, on an easier section), until the crux where I gave everything to make it happen... And it happened! I was through the boulder, still on the wall, shaking my forearms to recover for the last section. The final bit isn't that hard but is still a bit tricky. I climbed really slowly and carefully on the final crack!

It is the first flash-ascent of this route, and maybe, as far as I know, the first time someone flashes a trad route of that grade. It was a great moment in my climbing life, and I am really happy I dared try it flash. About the grade, it is hard for me to give an opinion as I was flash and don't have much experience on E-grade, but I have the feeling that the route is quite easy for 8b+. But I also have to admit that I feel in really good shape. Future will tell."

Mathieu: I started trad climbing about a year ago but not regularly. At first just some limestone routes around Grenoble and a few easy multipitch routes in Chamonix. I liked this style of climbing immediately because it adds a new thing to climbing, it's not just about working the moves and the route but with trad it's also about finding the right gear to protect yourself, and you have to be quick about this when you're onsight. So I had the feeling to discover a new discipline in climbing and be a beginner again and that was really motivating. I also liked the purity of this style, it's really incredible when you can protect yourself in a hard route because in a hard route, you don't have many big holds.

For the grade, I think it could be easier than an 8b+ especially if you are strong in this style of climbing. It's really technical with some little handjam and footjam (even if it's not crack climbing) so the first time I climbed in it I found it hard but the more I climbed in it the more I found little tricks and beta so when I send it I have the feeling to climb something around 8b but with the gear to place in the same time it was not so easy ahah. For the British trad grade system, I think it was graded E10 7a, I don't have experience in this grading system but I could discuss it with the British climber Robbie Phillips, who sent the route the day after me, and he thinks that could be more an E9 6c. In any case, that is in agreement with our feeling of the route being more 8b than 8b+.

I want to say that I don't want to downgrade it because I don't have the experience and legitimacy to do that, it's just some personal reflections.