The next day Oli and Séan climbed the first six pitches while Nico and Mike carried gear to the base. Two days later, after a 24-hour day, we arrived at the base of pitch 13, located 2100 feet up the wall, which contained a small ledge with some snow. This is where we set up our two portaledges and got ready for the second half of the route.

The day after we reached pitch 13, Mike and Nico advanced up to pitch 18. The rock offered us a variety of climbing from corners to small crimpers, incredible cracks, scary offwidths and chimneys; pure joy. The next two days the weather turned bad and we were forced to stay in our portaledges. After the storm cleared Oli and Séan succeed in climbing past the legendary roof to pitch 25.  Thanks to Séan’s technical talent and courage, the team succeeded in passing a major obstacle: a chimney with both sides completely covered in ice!  Oli took the next section, which contained incredible cracks with untrustworthy holds. At the end of the day they passed a great roof and then were forced back to camp at pitch 13 by a snowstorm. Having now passed the roof, we only needed one more day of good weather to reach the summit. Unfortunately we are forced to wait patiently in our portaledges for three days. The cold wind and snow made it hard to go outside, so we played music and cards all day and celebrated Séan’s birthday with half a chocolate bar.

Everyday we went to bed early and systematically woke up to check the weather at 2AM, 4AM and 6AM. Food was running out. On February 8th, the wake up call sounded at 2AM: the sky was covered in stars! Oli and Nico tackled the first couple of pitches after the roof (pitches 25-31) while Mike and Séan redpoint the legendary roof. Nico succeeded in getting past three sketchy pitches covered in ice and snow, and Oli was forced to advance the next two pitches in aid as a result of ice and a running waterfall. Séan and Mike took on the last couple of pitches, which lead towards the summit. The will to get to the top drove Mike to quickly climb and the next three pitches he dispensed with. Next came a short snow patch, which required him to use crampons and an ice axe. Séan tackled the last pitches to the summit and carefully overcame incredibly loose rock and brought “The Patagonia Dream Team” to the summit! We were happy to have fulfilled the dream and to still be alive after this incredible adventure.

We carefully descended back down to pitch 13, and tried our best to make sure our ropes didn’t get stuck. On two occasions we are forced back up to free our ropes that got jammed. Exhausted but happy, we arrived at basecamp at pitch 13 at 2AM. The next day we awoke to a snowstorm, which forced us to stay put for one more day. The rest of the rappels to the ground seemed more dangerous and delicate than we expected (we still aren’t sure if we found the right line) but finally, at 4AM, we arrived sound and safe back at our underground base camp or as we like to call it “Campo Belga” (Camp Belgium). After arriving to the ground, we noticed the glacier had changed a great deal during the 11 days we were on the wall. After cooking ourselves a well-deserved meal and getting some sleep, we carried all of our gear down. It took us two days to get back to the entrance of the park where we finally jumped on the bus, which lead us back to Puerto Natales. It was an absolutely thrilling experience and we are all enormously happy to have lived through this adventure. We’re now in El Chalten (Argentina), and a couple of days rest will probably be needed before we tackle our next adventure.”