The Mummer, Cuerno Oriental, and the Sharksfin, Various Activity. During March and April of 1998, Tom Bauman, Alan Kearney and Jack Lewis climbed in Patagonia and performed clean-up work with the help of a grant from Polartec. On March 24, Bauman was hit in the arm and ribs by rockfall on the yet unclimbed East Face of the Mummer in the Pingos Valley (Chileans have indiscriminately renamed the valley the Bader Valley, which is very confusing as most maps and books refer to it as the Pingos Valley). The party bailed off the Mummer after climbing only two pitches and then changed objectives. On March 29, Lewis was blown 15 feet through the air by a gust of wind while hiking. He tumbled down talus another 20 feet, sustaining cuts and bruises. On April 7, all three climbed a nine-pitch route up the granitic East Face of Cuerno Oriental (sometimes referred to as Cuerno Este) (5.11 A2) and did not go to the summit, a half mile to the northwest and up rotten black rock. On April 14, Kearney soloed the South Ridge of the Sharksfin (a.k.a. Aleta del Tiburon) in the Frances Valley, Grade III or IV 5.9 (a route put up by the French in 1982). This was during a spell of four days of good weather, the longest during their stay. The party carried trash out of the Japanese and Torre Camps in the Rio Ascencio Valley and from the British and Italian Camps in the Frances Valley. They also spoke with Paine Park officials about the problems of overuse in the park. They found the climber’s camps actually cleaner than those camps used only by trekkers.

Alan Kearney

*Recipient of a Polartec grant