Although there were hardly any accidents in the area this past season, one of the incidents unfortunately resulted in the death of Argentine climber Iñaki Cousirrat. He was hit by rockfall while attempting a route on the east face of Cerro Fitz Roy.

The extreme heat of the last few summers, including the heat of the five good weather weeks we had this season, have had an impact on permafrost depth, making the mountains more unstable. The freezing level should be an important consideration when choosing an objective, and it might be time to go further: During particularly warm summers, certain objectives might have to be considered “off limits,” regardless of the freezing level on a particular day. A similar evolution in thinking has taken place in the Alps over the last couple of decades.

The following summary of activity is organized geographically from south to north along the Torre group, then from north to south along the Fitz Roy crest.

In the Agujas del Río Túnel, Julian Casanova and Tomas Müller (Argentina) did the first ascent of agujas “2” and “5,” now called Lise and Leo, climbing two new routes: La Vida Boba (450m, 5.8 60 ̊) and El Dealer de la Bicicleta (500m, 5.8 60 ̊). In the same area, Quentin Lindfield Roberts (Canada) climbed a new route on T48: M23 (300m, 5.6). Just to the east, Colin Haley soloed a new route along the west ridge of Cerro Solo: El Dragón (300m, 5.8 R).

On El Mocho, Martin Marovski and Viktor Varoshkin (Bulgaria) climbed a new line on the north face, right of Grey Yellow Arrow: The Approach Team Line (13 pitches, 5.11 A2). Also on El Mocho, Marc-André Leclerc (Canada) completed the first solo ascent of Voie des Benitiers (400m, 5.11 C1); he also soloed Rubio y Azul (350m, 5.11) on the nearby Aguja de la Medialuna.

Cerro Torre’s southeast ridge got its second free ascent, by Andrew Rothner, Mikey Schaefer, and Josh Wharton. All three of them freed all the pitches (800m, 5.12d WI5). They believe the crux is around 5.12d (down from the original rating of 5.13b). Three other parties repeated the southeast ridge with aid, climbing the crux via the “Haston Crack.”

On Torre Egger, Tomy Aguilo (Argentina), Korra Pesce (Italy), and Roli Striemitzer (Austria) completed the second ascent of Psycho Vertical (900m, 6c A3 90°, Karo-Jeglic-Knez, 1986) on the south face. They climbed alpine style over two days, descending on day three. They were followed by Iñaki Coussirat and Carlitos Molina (Argentina), who initially climbed independently but later jugged ropes fixed by the first team for at least a third of the route. Colin Haley brought the house down with the first solo ascents of Punta Herron and Torre Egger. From Col Standhardt he traversed across the east face of Aguja Standhardt (400m, 5.9 65 ̊), then rappelled to the route Tobogán and followed this to the Col del los Sueños (100m, 75 ̊), between Standhardt and Punta Herron. He then tackled Spigolo dei Bimbi (350m, 5.10d 90 ̊) to reach the summit of Punta Herron. After rappelling south to the col below Torre Egger, he climbed the Huber-Schnarf (200m, 5.11- 80 ̊) to the top. He reached the summit of Torre Egger in 13 hours 30 minutes from Col Standhardt. He free-soloed everything except for a short tension traverse near the start, four pitches along Spigolo dei Bimbi, and another four pitches along the Huber-Schnarf, where he rope-soloed. He descended the south face of Torre Egger, then down the American Route. The round trip from the Noruegos camp took 27 hours. In 2010, Haley completed the first solo ascent of Aguja Standhardt, so he now has under his belt the first solo ascents of three out of the four summits in the Cerro Torre group.

On Aguja Standhardt, one day after the winter equinox, Marc-André Leclerc free-soloed the stout Tomahawk-Exocet link-up (900m, WI6 M7), reaching the summit 12 hours after leaving Niponino camp. Later, Luca Bianco, Giacomo Deiana, and Francesco Salvaterra (Italy) climbed the first two-thirds of the unfinished Chaverri-Plaza attempt and then joined Exocet, along which they continued to the summit. The result: a very sustained 900m route—stellar rock climbing in the lower half, stout ice climbing in the upper part.

The west face of Cerro Piergiorigio, showing: (1) Via del Hermano. (2) Greenpeace. (3) All You Need is Love. (4) Pilar Canino. (5) Skull Fuck. Photo by Colin Haley

Further north, Matt Burdekin and Tom Ripley (U.K.) climbed 13 new pitches into Cogan on the east face of Aguja Bifida’s south summit: The Siren (400m, 5.9). Pete Fasoldt and Eli Simon climbed ten new pitches into Su Patagonia on the west face of Punta Filip: Shelter from the Cow (5.11 A0). On the neighboring Aguja Pachamama, Gediminas Simutis and Saule Simute climbed a new route on the west face: Ziggy Stardust (300m, 5.10a).

There was a lot of action in the peaks above the Marconi Sur Glacier. Two new routes were climbed on the left side of Cerro Piergiorgio’s west face. Katsutaka Yokoyama and Takaaki Nagato (Japan) climbed Pilar Canino (500m, 5.12), and soon afterward Pete Fasoldt and Jonathan Schaffer (USA) climbed Skull Fuck (500m, 5.11c), immediately to the right. Just to the north, on the west face of Aguja El Tridente, Yokoyama and Nagato climbed Knob- mania (10 pitches, 5.12d). The crux pitch was freed with preplaced gear; all other pitches were redpointed.

Across the valley, Jonathan Schaffer and Joel Kauffman (USA) climbed a new route on Aguja Volonqui’s east face: Chorblito (14 pitches, WI4 M7). On Los Colmillos, Nicola Castagna, Jacopo Pellizari, and Francesco Salvaterra (Italy) climbed Colmillo Central from the east and south by the route Matetang (55 ̊ M4) and did the first ascent of Colmillo Sur with Marcello Cominetti: Anonima Sequestri (300m, 90° M6). In the same area, Stefan Gatt, Andreas Reinhardt, and Markus Stockert (Austria) climbed a new route on Cerro Pollone that they called Escama del Dragon (200m, 5.11-). They climbed another new route on a small tower south of Aguja Tito Carrasco that they called Alegría (180m, 5.11-), and did the first ascent of a slender tower just north of Aguja Volonqui: Voluntad y Cuidado (250m, 5.11-).

Cordón Marconi saw two new routes. Henry Bizot (France) and Gabriel Fava (Argentina) climbed the south face of Aguja Dumbo: André y Sophie (600m, 65° M3; see Henry’s report at the AAJ website). On Cerro Marconi Sur, Markus Pucher (Austria) soloed a new route on the west face: Into the Wild (800m, 80 ̊ M5).

Cerro Fitz Roy received a lot of attention, including a new speed record. Colin Haley and Andy Wyatt smashed the “car-to-car” mark for running and climbing Fitz Roy, summiting via the Supercanaleta in a 21:08 round trip.

On the north face, Pete Fasoldt and Jonathan Schaffer climbed a major new route. They started at the lowest point of the wall, following a 1985 attempt, then joined the Afanassieff Route briefly before continuing to the Gran Hotel. On the headwall above, they climbed a 12-pitch crack, mostly offwidth (difficulties to 5.12), later rejoining the Afanassieff to the summit. In all, they climbed 1,600m on their new route Pretty Bird (7a+ A0), of which 25 pitches were new. They bivied at the Gran Hotel twice, on the way up and

during their rappel descent of Tehuelche. On the south face of Fitz Roy, Michal Sabovčík and Ján Smoleň (Slovakia) climbed 400m of new terrain left of the Canadian Route: Asado (M8 7a+ C2). On the east face, David Bacci and Matteo Della Bordella (Italy) did the second ascent of Pilar Este (Ferrari-Meles, 1976), climbing alpine style over three days and managing to free many of the pitches. El Corazón (Ochsner-Pitelka, 1992) saw its first one-day ascent, by Jorge Ackermann (Argentina) and Tony McLean (Canada) in 20:30.

At the south end of the Cerro Fitz Roy chain, on Aguja de l’S, Nico Gutiérrez and Carlos Vasquez (Colombia) climbed a new route on the west face: Los del Maipo (5.11), with 21 pitches total and 18 new pitches. 

As a closing remark, Colin Haley had the most successful single season in the history of Chaltén Massif climbing. In addition to the climbs mentioned above, he soloed the California Route on Cerro Fitz Roy and climbed a new route on Cerro Huemul with Alex Honnold. His two speed traverses in the Torre and Fitz Roy groups are described in a feature story in AAJ 2016. The quality and number of ascents he pulled off in barely two months is staggering.

– Rolando Garibotti