South America, Argentine–Chilean Patagonia, Fitz Roy

Publication Year: 1986.

Fitz Roy. In a letter to Toncek Arko, Solvenes Bogdan Bišcak, Rado Fabjan and Matevž Lenarcic told of an ascent they made when they first arrived in the region. It would seem that they had not joined the rest of the Slovene expedition to Cerro Torre in the first days in the region. The letter reads, “We got to Base Camp at Río Blanco on December 15. We fixed 300 meters of rope on the south face of Fitz Roy on two lovely days. After some storm days, on December 21, we left Base Camp at seven P.M. to get to the Brecha de los Italianos at five A.M. We began our new route [Just how it differed from previous routes is not yet clear.—Editor.] at seven o’clock. Although the weather went bad at two P.M., we kept on and reached the summit at five P.M. It was windy and snowing. We were lucky to get down safe and sound before night and bivouacked in the Brecha de los Italianos. The next day we descended to Base between avalanches of fresh snow. We had been 44 hours almost without food or drink.”