Cerro Torre. On February 17, Brazilian Makoto Ishibe and I reached the summit of Cerro Torre via the Maestri route. He is the first Brazilian to make the ascent. We left Base Camp on February 16 and climbed five pitches above the standard snow-cave bivouac on pitch 9; that shortened the summit day to 22 pitches. The following should be noted. The bolt traverse needs new line as the current one is dangerous. A huge flake on pitch 36 is loose. The “Bridwell” pitch (N° 37) is in poor condition above the bolt ladder; rivets are pulling out, slings are rotten and fixed protection is missing. A long ice axe is needed to use as a cheater stick for reaching over the missing protection.

Thor Kieser, Condor Adventures