South America, Andes, Tronador

Publication Year: 1935.

Tronador. This peak was the object of a number of determined assaults by both German and Italian parties this past summer. On January 29th Hermann Claussen climbing alone left his bivouac at 4 a.m. and reached the summit at 10 p.m., spending the night there and returning the next day. Ignorant of this ascent, Dr. Neumayer and E. de la Mothe made an attempt on February 4th but were driven back by a severe storm. The same day Walter Durando and Sergio Matteoda, also ignorant of the previous successful climb, left their bivouac on the opposite side of the mountain at 3 a.m. and were never seen again, undoubtedly being lost in the storm. Later in the month several members of the Italian expedition to the Andes repeated the climb. On February 27th, Conte Aldo Bonacossa, Luigi Binaghi, and Giusto Gervasutti made the first ascent of the Chilean summit (11,120 ft.) and named it in honor of their lost comrade, Matteoda.