Many climbers throughout the years have turned their eyes to one of the biggest walls in Patagonia, the east face of Cerro San Lorenzo (3,706m). Our team from Ecuador—Nicolas Navarrete, Felipe Guarderas, and I—was no exception. We hoped to climb the peak’s south pillar (Pilar Sur).

We knew little about this place, so we took all sorts of equipment to allow us to attempt our objective in the style that seemed most appropriate. Starting in early January 2016, we first spent a week carrying loads to the base of Pilar Sur, where we waited for good weather.

In late January, we set off from our advanced base camp at 3 a.m. A long approach over the glacier got us to the base of the wall at sunrise. We chose a line on the right side of the wall, left of the couloir climbed by the Slovenian team [see previous report], between the south pillar and San Lorenzo’s south summit. We climbed for 250m but decided to retreat due to constant rockfall. During the descent, a serac collapsed and Felipe was struck by debris, breaking his arm.

With not many options on the east face, Nico and I decided to go on a big adventure around the mountain while Felipe returned to our camp. We hiked for 10 hours until we reached the southwest arête of Cumbre Buscaini (ca 3,300m, the south summit of San Lorenzo). We waited at the base for a couple of hours, hoping for better snow conditions; unfortunately, conditions never improved.

At 3 a.m. we started our climb, heading up through deep snow until we reached the bergschrund. Some steep snow took us to a mixed ridge, where we traversed right. Magically, we found a way through the big serac that guards the ramp to the summit. From there we climbed perfect ice up to 75° to the south summit. We enjoyed the view for a few minutes in strong winds and then started our long descent, downclimbing the majority of our route and rappelling one section. We reached camp again after 40 hours out.

We named our route Haba-tar (800m, 75°). It was definitely a big adventure in a wild place, and we learned a lot, taking our good experiences home with us. [This route is located west (looker’s left) of the Buscaini-Metzeltin Route (1986) up the south face and west arête.]

Roberto Morales, Ecuador