Enchainment

For the French linguistic phenomenon, seeenchaînement.

Alex HonnoldandTommy Caldwellwon thePiolet d'Orin2015for their enchainment of the entire Fitzroy Massif in a 5-day push

Inmountaineeringandclimbing,enchainment(ananglicisationof theFrenchwordenchaînement,meaning "linking" ) is climbing two or more mountains or climbing routes on a mountain in one outing (often over the course of a day or a series of days).Rock climbingtwo or more routes in this manner are also called a "link up" in the United States. Climbers may do an enchainment of easy routes as a way of training for a more difficult objective, but some enchainments of hard routes are a prize in their own right, a notable example being thegreat north faces of the Alps.

In alpinism

By the 1970s, the number of possible new routes in theAlpsseemed to be drying up, and so alpinists looked for other challenges. Developments inhang gliderandparaglidertechnology, as well as advances inextreme skiingand the use ofhelicopters,meant that mountains could be descended much more quickly than they could by foot, making possible enchainments of long and difficult face routes. Early practitioners of this style of climbing were predominantly French, the most notable beingJean-Marc Boivin,Christophe Profit,andJean-Christophe Lafaille.

• In August 1975Nicolas Jaeger(who had made the first solo traverse of theChamonix Aiguillesin 1973) accomplished the first solo ascent of the Bonatti-Gobbi route on theGrand Pilier d'Angle,descended to the Upper Freney Glacier and then made the second solo ascent of the Central Pillar of Freney, thereby reaching the summit ofMont Blancover 17 hours.That achievement has led to him being referred to as "the inventor of modern enchainments".
• On 17 March 1986, Boivin, using skis, a paraglider, and a hang glider for his descents, linked up ascents of the north faces of theAiguille Verte,Les Droites,Les Courtes, and theGrandes Jorasses,flying 15 km (9.3 mi) back to theChamonixvalley after his final ascent and arriving at 0:30 am.
• From 11 to 12 March 1987, Profit was the first to climb the three hardest of the six great Alpine north faces, "the Trilogy",(theEiger,theMatterhornand the Grandes Jorasses) in under 24 hours.
• In April 1996, Lafaille made a 15-day solo enchainment of ten classic alpine faces, including routes on the Eiger, and theMatterhorn.

In rock climbing

• In 1986,John BacharandPeter Croftmade the first link-up of routes onEl CapitanandHalf DomeinYosemitein a single day.
• In 2014, over a 5-day period,Alex HonnoldandTommy Caldwellcompleted the first-ever full enchainment,The Fitz Roy Traverse(5.11d C1 65 degrees, 5000m), on theFitz Roy massif,inPatagonia.

In mountaineering

• In May 2008, Japanese climbers Katsutaka Yokoyama, Yusuke Sato, and Fumitaka Ichimura, completed the enchainment onMount Denaliof theIsis Face(M4 5.8 A1, 60 degrees, 7,200-feet [to South Buttress], Stutzman-Tackle, 1982), and theSlovak Direct(5.9, 100 degrees, 9,000-feet, Adam-Korl-Krizo, 1984), in a single, eight-day push.