Charles Eternue – Red Pillar of Blaitiere

A fine trip to the Red Pillar of the Blaitiere with the every psyched Andy Perkins to climb Charles Eternue. This route was named after the French Foreign Minister (Charles Hernu) who ordered the sinking of Greenpeace’s flagship vessel ‘Rainbow Warrior’ in 1985 while she was in port in Aukland New Zealand en route to demonstrate against the French nuclear tests in the Atol. One person was killed in the sinking and two French agents were arrested and found guilty of manslaughter in what the New Zealand authorities referred to as state sponsored terrorism. Interestingly my father used to work on this vessel when she conducted research. The climbing is varied with cracks, offwidths, corners, slabs, laybacks and a steep finale. Quality