Southern Summer Climbing Season in Patagonia, 1987-8. Just a few days ago (written on February 19, 1988), Sebastián de la Cruz returned from the South. He climbed Cerro Torre with Spaniards Ramón Portillo and Antonio Trabado from the snow cave at the base to the summit and back on December 19. On December 26, he soloed Adela Central and made an unsuccessful attempt on Stanhardt with Swiss Peter Lüthi at the end of January. Before he left, 36 climbers had ascended Cerro Torre, nearly all by the Maestri bolt route. The exceptions were the Slovenes Janez Jeglic and Silvo Karo, who climbed the vertical south face and on January 22, 1988 got to the Maestri route; they descended from there without going to the summit because of a frightful storm. Women climbed Cerro Torre for the first time. Italian Rosanna Manfrini with Maurizio Giordani got to the top a few days ahead of Ines Božic, accompanied by Janez Skok. Polish women, including Wanda Rutkiewicz, failed near the Maestri compressor. On January 29, 1988, American Kathy Cosley with Mark Houston became the third woman to reach Cerro Torre’s summit. Argentine Silvia FitzPatrick, along with Eduardo Brenner, was the second woman to climb Fitz Roy.

Vojslav Arko, Club Andino Bariloche