05/04/2012Support for the removal of the Compressor route bolts.

At a March 21st meeting of the British Mountaineering Council International Committee the following statement was agreed upon: The BMC International Committee supports Traditional Ethics in mountaineering and supports the removal of the Maestri bolts from Cerro Torre. See the full letter here.

04/04/2012Corrections.

In the last few days we have made a myriad of corrections (see the menu to the right). The main discovery was that Chimichurri y Tortas Fritas is still unrepeated, and that Young Jerkers, a 2005 variation by Rok Sisernik, Aljaz Tratnik and Rok Zalokar was in fact not new, but was the line that Andrew Lindblade and the late Athol Whimp climbed thinking they were repeating Chimichurri. After discussing it with Andrew, their 1994 variation is now called Lindblade-Whimp (name order simply alphabetical). It was by chance that I found Andrew's website and there saw one key photo that made the above clear. By the way Andrew's website has a couple of brillant articles, well worth reading. Also, the first two pitches of the recent Crux del Sur were climbed in 1985 by Pedrini and Locher as part of Chimichurri and were repeated in 1994 by Whimp and Lindblade.

18/03/2012New route on Aguja Guillaumet.

After climbing an impressive new route on Poincenot, Russian climber Sergey Dashkevich climbed a new route on Guillaumet. Brazilian Marcos Costa and Sergey fired the Patagonian Werewolfs in a single day round trip from Piedra Negra. With nine routes the west face of Guillaumet is by far the most climbed piece of rock in the entire massif.

14/03/2012New route on Aguja de la Silla.

After a new route on the Goretta pillar a couple of weeks ago, Luciano just climbed an impressive and beautiful new line on Aguja de la Silla. After navigating the adventurous approach Diego, Jonathan and Luciano fired the route in a single day. With his three new lines on Fitz, one on Guillaumet, a short one on Val Biois and now this one, all in less than three years, Luciano is by far the most active first ascentionist the area has seen in quite sometime. More infos about the new line here.

05/03/2012New routes on Fitz Roy, Val
Biois and Innominata.
Luciano climbed his third new line on Fitz Roy, this time an impressive crack line up the Goretta Pillar, here. Mikey and Kate climb a new line on Innominata, Mikey's sixth new line in the Fitz Roy range, here. Jumbo and Hana climbed Mate, Porro y Todo los Demas to the top, while Jose Bonacalza and Diego Simari did what is likely the "youngest" ascent of the Ragni route.

01/03/2012Messner's Scream of Stone.

Part of the discussion surrounding the Compressor route bolts should include understanding Cesare Maestri's motivation to place them, which relates directly to why he wanted to chop them on his way down. Maestri has written quite a lot on the subject, particularly in the book 2000 Metri della Nostra Vita, which you can buy in Italian here. However the best analysis on the subject is Reinhold Messner's Torre-Schrei aus Stein published in 2009 in German by Piper Verlag and in Italian under the title Grido di Pietra by Corbaccio. Unfortunately it has not been translated into English. It is a very worthy read, in some ways essential to having a deeper understanding of this issue. You can buy it here in German, here in Italian.
Some years ago Maestri summarized his contribution to Cerro Torre when he expressed his desire to see it "explode in a million pieces".

01/03/2012Cerro Torre - "An Impossible Mountain."
Petition in support of the removal of the Compressor route bolts here.

Cerro Torre - "Una Montaña Imposible."
Peticion en apoyo al retiro de los clavos de la vía del Compresor aqui.

16/02/2012A Word...
Yvon Chouinard's thoughts on the Compressor route bolt removal, another must read, here.

06/02/2012Kelly Cordes' contribution.
Kelly, a senior editor for the American Alpine Journal, a consumated alpinist and "margarita" specialist discusses spiritual materialism and Cerro Torre. Another must read, here.

04/02/2012Colin Haley unleashed.
Colin just posted a very thorough analysis of the Compressor route bolts affaire in his blog. A must read, here.

31/01/2012Lectura obligada.
Sugiero leer la carta de Sebastian de la Cruz a La Cachaña. Para aquellos demasiado jovenes para conocerlo, Seba, junto con Jose Luis Fonrouge, fue el escalador Argentino mas grande de todos los tiempos. Sugiero tambien leer la misiva de Carlos Comesaña, otra persona que no deberia necesitar ningun tipo de presentacion. Dos de los pilares mas importantes del andinismo argentino expresando apoyo claro e inequivoco para la restauracion de nuestro legado natural.

30/01/2012Patagonia Tragica.
There were a number of serious accidents in the last good weather window. Carlyle Norman lost her life on Exupery, while several people had rockfall related accidents on Innominata and Noruegos. The fact that this has been one of the driest seasons in history has not helped, but some of the accidents should make us pause and rethink our approach and our respect for these peaks. In an area where wall rescues are not available climbing in parties of three to ensure better chances of self rescue should be strongly considered. Let Bernardo and Carlyle's tragic deaths, dying alone while waiting for a rescue that never comes, be a reminder of just how very serious this area is.