Field Journal

Film and photography by Dark Sky Media

In 2015 Caroline Ciavaldini set herself the ambitious project of free climbing the Voie Petit, a 450m granite route graded 8b on the Grand Capucin on Mont Blanc du Tacul, Chamonix, which inspired the film Shifting Dreams. Established by Arnaud Petit in 1997, and first free-climbed by Alex Huber in 2005, the route is protected by a mixture of trad gear, bolts and pegs. Caroline succeeded and became the first female ever to scale this iconic Alpine climbing route, seen by many as the hardest rock climb in the Alps, above 3,500m in altitude.

This epic achievement is the culmination of months of training and preparation for Caroline, who saw it as a goal that would push the limits of her climbing ability. It was also a challenge that would incorporate all the skills she has learned during her career which has included indoor, trad, adventure and competition disciplines.

‘I have been competing for ten years in climbing world cups, but there is a world of difference between an eight-minute exercise on artificial walls and free climbing a vertical or overhanging wall of granite above a glacier.’ – Caroline Ciavaldini

‘When I set myself the aim of this route last year, I made a plan to learn all the skills that I lacked – from walking on ice with crampons to climbing very, very far above your last protection, with the knowledge that injury would be the likely result of a fall,’ Caroline outlined.

The film, by Dark Sky Media / The North Face tells the story of this journey.