ABSTRACT
On the French side of the Mont Blanc range, rising above the town of Chamonix, there is a beau ti ful granite obelisk. It is called the Dru. To a moun tain eer’s eye its granite walls, rising sheer for over a thou sand metres until they are sheathed in ice, are one of the finest sights in the European Alps. On one of those walls a route heads with heartstop ping auda city directly to the summit. It is the North West Pillar, also called the Bonatti Pillar because Walter Bonatti made the first ascent of it solo.
