Unprecedented amounts of good weather greeted climbers in the 2007–08 Patagonia season, resulting in numerous new routes and significant ascents. [Note: This summary supplements the individual reports, mostly of longer routes, below.]

On the southeast buttress of Bifida’s south summit, American Crystal Davis-Robbins and Chilean Nico Gutierrez completed the second ascent, and first complete ascent (to summit) of Cogan (800m, TD 5.10 Al, Bruckner-Schorghofer, 1993), which originally ended 100m from the summit after joining Cheoma. Davis-Robbins and Gutierrez climbed a number of variations to the original route.

American Colin Haley and German Carsten von Birckhahn made the second ascent of the upper portion of Puerta Blanca (Huber-Walder, 2007) on Desmochada, climbing several variations along the way. They approached via the Desmochada-Poincenot gully, rather than climbing the rock buttress just left of Desmochada’s west face, as did Huber and Walder.

Later in the season Haley and Rolando Garibotti completed the third ascent of the Afanasieff route (1,600m, TD 5.10) on the northwest ridge of Fitz Roy. They started from a camp in the Torre Valley and climbed up and over Hombre Sentado ridge, reaching a point seven pitches below the summit on their first day. After a cold sleeping-bag-less bivy they climbed to the summit and descended the Franco-Argentine route.

Earlier in the season, French climbers Aymeric Clouet and Christophe Dumarest established a new variation to the Afanasieff route, climbing the steep 400m buttress between the Supercanaleta and Afanasieff routes. They followed a series of steep cracks, with difficulties up to 7a and A2, that they christened Le Chercheur d’Absolu. Clouet and Dumarest traversed left at the top of the initial pillar to join the Afanasieff route, which they followed to the summit. A similar line had been previously tried by another French team in 2002 and 2003; they tried to continue upward, following the ridge crest, but were turned back 700m up by blank rock.

Also on Fitz Roy, but farther east, American Bean Bowers and Garibotti climbed an independent line to the top of the Goretta Pillar. Their route, Mate, Porro y Todo lo Demas, climbs a series of steep cracks on the northwest edge of the pillar (accessed by Paso Cuadrado). They took 10 hours to climb the twenty-some pitches to the top of the pillar, then descended via the Casarotto route to the col (Bloque Empotrado) north of the pillar, from where they rappelled west back to the base of the climb. In the upper third the route climbs a series of wide cracks, just left of the pillar’s edge. The superb climbing went mostly free, with a short section of easy 5.11 and two 10-foot sections of A0 due to icy cracks. This route saw two repeats, by Brazilian and Argentine teams, both stopping at the top of the pillar as well. The buttress just left of the wide cracks on the upper third of Mate, Porro y Todo lo Demas, and right of Chimichurri y Tortas Fritas, was climbed as a variation to the Kearney-Knight variation to the Casarotto route by Americans Jesse Huey and Toby Grohne (Gringos Perdidos, 6–8 new pitches up to 5.11).

In November Italian Claudio Inselvini and Swiss Michi Lerijan climbed a major variation (No Brain, No Pain) to the Supercanaleta. After climbing 800m up the Supercanaleta gully, well below the Bloque Empotrado, they traversed right for 200m, across a series of ledges and easy slabs, crossing Ensueño to near the southwest ridge. They then climbed six to eight pitches, involving slabs and steep cracks on the north side of the ridge, to reach the upper portion of Tonta Suerte, before joining the upper ridge of Supercanaleta and eventually the summit.

On the east face of Fitz Roy, Americans jimmy Haden and Mike Pennings made the first alpine-style ascent of Royal Flush (5.12 Al, Albert-Arnold-Gershel-Richter, 1995, to junction with El Corazon), and only the second complete ascent of the route to the summit (first complete ascent by Gabel-Schafroth-Treppte, 1998, in three days roundtrip with fixed ropes). Haden and Pennings completed the 4,000' route in a 48-hour roundtrip from Paso Superior.

On the west face of St. Exupery, Huey and Grohne established Last Gringos Standing (V 5.11- C1), just left of the Southwest “Austrian” Ridge (Barnthaler-Lidi, 1987), over two days in early March 2008. Huey and Pennings spotted the route in February, and during a recon climbed three pitches of perfect 5.10 cracks to a dike, where they discovered enough holds to allow a 60’ leftward traverse to a second crack system that promised to lead to the upper ridge. Huey returned with Grohne, free-climbing everything except one icy crack and joining the Austrian Ridge after seven pitches, along which they continued to a bivy at the notch between a false summit and the true peak, which they reached the following morning.

Unreported previously, in early 2007 Ariel Martorelo y Horacio Gratton climbed a five-pitch variation to the Rubio y Azul route on Aguja Media Luna. Their line climbs a crack system (5.11) on the steep prow left of Rubio y Azul, which it joins at the middle break on pitch six.

Rolando Garibotti, AAC