Cerro Torre: Todo Natural

Six teams climbed the upper west face of Cerro Torre in the first nine days of December, doubling the number of previous ascents. A total of 21 climbers summited the granite spire via the west face—the 1974 first-ascent route—or by a new variation that finished on the upper west face. 

During the same period in early December, only one team climbed the Compressor Route on Cerro Torre’s southeast ridge, following the controversial bolt ladders installed by Cesar Maestri in a 1970 attempt on the mountain. To Rolando Garibotti, a historian of Patagonian climbing, the many recent ascents of the all-natural west face mark a historic shift. In a summary quoted on Colin Haley’s blog, Garibotti wrote, “It appears that the climbing community has finally come to understand that an ascent of the Compressor Route is not really an ascent of Cerro Torre. It is as if overnight everyone stopped climbing Everest with oxygen, fixed rope, and Sherpa support.” 

Garibotti added in an e-mail that the west face was not in “particularly easy condition.” The notorious vertical rime on the upper face “is in the same condition it always is, minus the myth, which in the last two weeks got thrown out the door.” Garibotti climbed the route on December 1, along with four Argentinean climbers and a German woman, Doerte Pietron. This was the first female ascent of the west face, and the first female ascent of Cerro Torre without using Maestri’s bolts. 

There were other remarkable ascents, as well. Norwegians Ole Lied and Trym Atle Saeland completed the much-anticipated “corkscrew route” on the mountain, starting on the southeast ridge and then traversing above the south face to reach the upper west face and the summit. 

The Swiss climber Walter Hungerbühler made the first solo ascent of the west face on December 9—a remarkable passage, given the delicate nature of the rime-ice climbing. (There were three other teams climbing the route on the same day.) Hungerbühler’s ascent also marked the first solo ascent of Cerro Torre without using Maestri’s bolts. 

Cerro Torre’s west face is not only a more natural line than the Compressor Route; it’s also much more isolated. To start the route, climbers must first trek across the remote and stormy Continental Ice Cap. The face was first climbed in 1974 by Italians Daniele Chiappa, Mario Conti, Casimiro Ferrari, and Pino Negri, members of the famed Ragni di Lecco climbing group. Americans John Bragg, Dave Carman, and Jay Wilson did the second ascent (and first-alpine style ascent) in 1977. Michael Bearzi and Eric Winkelmann from Colorado did the first free ascent in 1986. Several teams have completed the west face without tagging the true summit atop Cerro Torre’s final mushroom. 

Dates of Ascents: December 1–9, 2008 

Sources: Rolando Garibotti, Colinhaley.blogspot.com  

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