In 1999, Swiss climber Peter Luthi and Argentines Andy Casal, Marcelo Galghera, and Leo Viamonte spent two months exploring the Turbio IV Valley and started a route up the large wall of La Oreja, then unclimbed.

Two years later, Casal returned with Juan Fantini and climbed 13 pitches before Casal was impaled with a drill bit in a fall, forcing a retreat. 

In 2017, Argentines Seba Cardozo, Esteban Degregori, Sebastián de La Cruz, Carlos Guerra, and Cintia Percivati, along with Crystal Davis-Robbins from the USA, completed pitch 13 and added two more pitches. Degregori returned in 2025 with Paula Alegre and Anne Richter and replaced aging hardware on the route.

Finally, in 2026, Cardozo, Degregori, and de La Cruz from the 2017 trip returned with Ian Clasen, Bruno Iacobellis, and Martin Rousies—a team ranging in age from 19 to 57 years old—and finished the line: Vía de los Marpla (20 pitches, 6c E4). From the top of the technical climbing, two hours of easy terrain brought them to the summit. They rappelled the route. 

—Marcelo Scanu, Argentina

Editor's Note: A longer story about this climb and many photos are at Ansilta.com.