Carlos Buhler and Joan Solé Rovirosa have climbed a new alpine route on the East Face of Cerro Castillo in the Aysen region of Cerro Castillo National Reserve, Chilean Patagonia.

The team's new route is the first on the East Face. There are two other routes on Cerro Castillo. One on the South Face by a Japanese and American team, and the “Standard Route” climbed by a New Zealand team on the West Face (which is how Buhler and Solé descended).

When Buhler and Solé arrived at the small mountain village of Via Cerro Castillo they experience gusts of 120 km per with lots of dust and ash from the nearby Hudson Volcano. They patiently waited here for two days until the conditions improved. On the 6^th of October they moved up to a basecamp at about 1000 meters with the help of a local guacho and three horses to carry their supplies.

The next day, at 4:30 am they left their basecamp with food for four days and crossed a glacier on the South Face, traversing around the mountain they eventually gained the main couloir, and their proposed route, on the East Face. At 11am they started up the frozen cleft climbing over mixed terrain as snow, rock and ice continually cascaded down on them. At 6 pm they stopped for the day and hunkered down for a cold night on a frozen cornice.

The following day, they started off at 6 am and began climbing the final section that proved to be the crux of the route. Solé noted in his report that the 20 kg backpacks they each wore began to feel very heavy here.

At 1 pm, they left the cold, shady couloir and continued up easy ground that delivered them at the final rock headwall, a very delicate and exposed ridge, with difficult protection and 5.9 climbing.

They reached the summit at 2 pm, (2675 meters) then descend the West Face making a second bivy in the valley of Estero Parada before finally making it back to Via Cerro Castillo on October 9^th, 2008.

Cerro Castillo National Reserve in Chilean Patagonia is located about two hours from Coyhaique, Chile.

Sources: Translated by Tom Laeser from a report by Catalunya-España Joan Solé Rovirosa

Date of Ascent: October 6-9, 2008

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