Paine Towers, Various Ascents, 1987. Italians Fabio Leoni, Giuseppe Bagattoli, Michele Cagol and Josef Espen made the first ascent of the southwest buttress of the South Tower of Paine, reaching the summit after four days of climbing on November 1, 1987 on their second attempt. On the first day, they climbed seven pitches of mixed terrain to bivouac at the col at the foot of the buttress. The ice was up to 65° and the rock of UIAA V + difficulty. From there on, there were pitches up to VI + and A2. They gained some 1450 meters or 4250 feet. After a rest day, Leoni, Carlo Fruet and Paola Fanton-Leoni climbed the North Tower by the first-ascent route on the south buttress. Shortly after this, Espen and Bagattoli also repeated the climb. Late in November Swiss Franco De Marchi and Mosè Mercolli also made this ascent. The Central Tower was climbed on November 5, 1987 by Ermanno Salvaterra and Ginella Paganini, which was the first ascent of the Central Tower by a woman. She had climbed the difficult 1963 Armando Aste route on the South Tower in 1986. A four-man Japanese team led by Yasushi Yamazaki climbed twelve pitches on the Central Tower left of the 1984 American-South African attempt but were thwarted by bad weather. They abandoned the route. They climbed the north tower on December 5, 1987.