"Cheval" is the French word for "horse" but in the mountains it means something more spectacular and not at all four-legged: a knife-edge ridge that plummets so vertiginously on either side as to make your mind a murky swirl of discombobulation.
The usual way to climb such a feature is to dangle a leg on either side, as if riding a horse, and to inch along in a fashion that puts more than a little pressure on your most fragile of reproductive valuables. It may not be as photogenic as balletically prancing across on the tips of your toes, but it minimises any chance of slippage.
The cheval section on the Bonney Rib of Malte Brun (3198m), in Aoraki - Mount Cook National Park, is one of the most magnificent, given the sharpness of its edge and its position above the Tasman Glacier, with breath-taking views of the Main Divide as it arcs across the summits of Aoraki, Tasman, Douglas, and beyond.
The first time climbers came across it was in
