Apart from ascents reported in detail [elsewhere in this edition], two new routes were climbed on the south face of Aguja De l’S. In late December Hayden Kennedy (U.S.) and Jason Kruk (Canada) climbed the lower half of Thaw’s not Houlding Wright (Houlding-Thaw-Wright, 2004), then traversed right to climb a crack system parallel to and to the right of the Art of War (Davis-Robbins-Nelson, 2007). They christened their line the Gentlemens Club (eight new pitches, 5.11+) and describe the climbing as being akin to Yosemite’s Astroman. One month later, using the same approach, Josh McClure, Miranda Oakley, and John Rambo (U.S.) climbed a line farther right. Their Wormhole Theory also has eight new pitches and difficulties to 5.11+. A few days before, McClure had soloed a link-up of Aguja St. Exupéry and Aguja De l’S, via the Kearney-Harrington and the North Ridge, taking 18 hours roundtrip from the Polacos camp.

Kate Rutherford and Mikey Schaefer (U.S.) climbed a new route on the south face of Aguja St. Exupéry, starting left of Condorito (Albert-Arnold-Dosekal, 1998), then crossing it at two-thirds height. They climbed 500m of new terrain, with difficulties to 5.10 and Al. As a tribute to the quality of the rock, they named their line Astrochoss. Later they climbed a new line on the north face of Aguja Rafael Juarez. They climbed the first three pitches of Como No! (Walsh, 2005), then six new pitches, before joining Blood on the Tracks (Miyamoto-Sharratt-Tureki-Wilkinson, 2005). They christened their line Tiempo para la Playa (6c Al).

It has come to light that in late 1993 Andrew Lindblade (Australia) and Athol Whimp (New Zealand) did not repeat Chimichurri y Tortas Fritas (Locher-Pedrini, 1985), on the Goretta Pillar of Cerro Fitz Roy, in its entirety, as previously reported. They followed Pedrini’s line to half-height and moved right, climbing 10 new pitches before rejoining Chimichurri. This line was repeated in 2005 by Slovenes Rok Sisernik, Aljaz Tratnik, and Rok Zalokar, who thought they were climbing virgin ground and named it Young Jerkers.

There was much activity on the southeast ridge of Cerro Torre, including a “fair means” ascent by Hayden Kennedy and Jason Kruk and a free ascent by David Lama and Peter Ortner. Feature articles regarding their activities can be found earlier in this Journal [Kennedy-Kruk article; Lama-Ortner article].

—Rolando Garibotti, AAC

Editor's Note: Rolando Garibotti provides more comprehensive information at his authoritative site www.pataclimb.com.