First female ascent and fast repeat of Histoire sans Fin (F8b+) by Moroni and Vidi
- Monday 21st July 2025
Italian climbers Camilla Moroni and Pietro Vidi have successfully repeated Histoire sans Fin (8b+ 200m), on Petit Clocher du Portalet in Switzerland, with Moroni making the route’s first female free ascent.
Known for its stunning aesthetic and hard climbing, Histoire Sans Fin was first free-climbed by Seb Berthe and Siebe Vanhee in the Summer of 2021. The route is composed of eight pitches, with difficulties up to F8b+ and is considered one of the best granite multi-pitch routes of its grade in Europe.
During the attempt, Vidi successfully climbed each pitch on lead, without falling. Moroni had a bit more of a fight on her hands – struggling through the F7c traverse on pitch three, then falling on the fourth pitch (8b+) three times – before successfully leading it. She climbed pitch six (F8b) on her second lead attempt and led the final hard pitch (Pitch 7, F8a+) cleanly on her first attempt.
Camilla commented, “After the competition season, I decided to take a three-week break to go rock climbing. I had already spotted this line last year, but because of competitions and training for the Olympics, I didn’t have time to try it. So this year, I decided to take on the challenge without any specific preparation. It had been about six months since I’d last worn a harness or trained endurance.
I have to admit that two days before the final push, I wasn’t feeling that confident about sending the route. But after a rest day, I switched my mindset into competition mode.
I climbed the F7c+ crack, getting a serious pump, and then fell three times traversing F7c due to silly mistakes. The next pitch is a technical F8b+ that starts on an arête and finishes with a small boulder section. Because of my height, I had to do a toe catch to reach a hold from the arete. Huge thanks to Pietro for helping me find this alternative beta!
That day, conditions were good, and the moves felt easier than usual, but still, my feet slipped three times. After finally sending that pitch, we continued on to the F8b arête, the pitch I was most afraid of. Pietro cruised it on his first go and stayed there to support me. On my first attempt, I fell just a couple of hard moves before the rest. This pitch was a real mental battle. I was getting tired. I managed to send it on my second try, and I knew the route was nearly done.
The last pitch is an F8a+ slab, which doesn’t require much power, just focus and calm. I sent it on my first go, and soon after, we were at the top. What a satisfying feeling!
Over the days we spent working on the route, I had to learn to use stiffer climbing shoes for the tiny footholds. I’m usually used to softer shoes, so it took me a while to adapt. I switched between the Instinct VS and the Vapor S along the route.
I really want to thank Pietro for being super supportive throughout the whole experience!”
We first went up there three days sleeping in the tent, but we were pretty unlucky with the weather allowing us just to climb a couple hours in the morning, we came back next week with much better conditions and spent two days checking out all the pitches, sending most of them and being pretty confident for a push in the next days.
We started climbing on Saturday after a rest day, and after quite a pumpy fight on the first 45m crack pitch, things went pretty smoothly. I cruised through the F8b+ crux pitch without many problems – unexpectedly my feet didn’t slip on the super technical F8b arête – and kept going to the top without any falls.
It was a smooth and quick ascent for me, but I actually stayed on the wall for almost 12 hours, supporting Camilla on her fight After climbing this one and Lurking Fear, I can definitely say that my slab technique doesn’t feel too bad!”