Cerro Solo

With a short weather windown forecasted this week, and with a limited amount of time available due to the work commitments of my partner Marcos, we decided on a climb that would we be able to do in a short trip from town and without having to hike a big load up to one of the primary basecamps.

Sunrise as we begin the ice pitch

Cerro Solo seemed to fit the bill perfectly. With a bivy site only 4 hours hike from town, we were able to leave at around 3pm and make it up there with plenty of time for a relaxed evening, and even a chance to get some actual sleep (on an alpine climb?!).

After crossing the tyrolean to the other side of Laguna Torre, we made it up to camp and chowed down on some leftovers we had brought with us from town. With enough daylight left, we hiked further up to scout out the couloir that would take us to the corner of the hanging glacier.

The next morning we woke up at 4am and took this route up to the glacier, but found out it was the wrong one, and this one had deposited us underneath the middle of the glacier! Instead of wasting hours climbing down and around/bailing to go get some breakfast, we decided just to go straight up, which ended up being a 50-60 foot pitch of AI2.

Fitz Roy and Poincenot

Now on top of the lower glacier, we were able to traverse and get onto the normal route which ascends the safest terrain through the upper glacier. One more short section of steep snow and we were on the summit, at 8:15am.

Summit shot with Fitz and Poincenot in background

The views over to Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy were remarkable, but looking west towards the Hielo Sur, the largest non-polar ice cap in the world, and the distant peaks of the Cordon del Mariano Moreno makes you realize how great the scale of things is here.

We descended quickly, as the snow was beoming quite poor and the snow bridges were too poor to be walked over safely in most cases.

Just a short hike out, and we were back in town for homemade pizzas and a cold Quilmes.

The weather looks good for this coming week, so stay tuned for more!

...internet is unbelievably slow here, it has taken me over an hour to post these 6 pictures, so there are more to come...

El Chalten

Some of you may be asking yourselves, "Is Ryan even IN Patagonia? He just posts pictures of himself climbing in great weather, with no snow, often in T-shirts!" Well I wasn´t too sure myself until now...

I am now (and for the rest of my trip) in El Chalten, a dusty frontier town which serves the springboard for all the major climbing expeditions to the Cerro Terro and Fitz Roy groups. With the free camping no longer available in town, most climbers are no forced to rent apartments or long-term rooms to serve a their base camp in town, while keeping a stash of gear and/or a high camp up at either Niponio or Paso Superior for when the weather looks promising. Luckily I ran into a friend of mine from WWU, Blake Herrington, so I am sharing a room (the Cave) with 3 other dirty climbers and a Rodesian ridgeback named Obie.

Since arriving on the Nightmare Dust Bus from Bariloche, roughly 8 days ago, I managed to hike up to Camp Niponino to learn the approach (it is a very circuitous 7 hour glacier approach), and watch a pretty nasty storm blow in and cover everything with ice.

There wa also the Festival de Boulders a few days ago, which has become an anual event held a tthe beginning of February to commemorate the first ascent of Fitz Roy. I competed in the bouldering competition, which was much more of a large gathering of pysched climbers ust out having fun for the day, and it all ended with a huge party.

So far so good, I am still waiting for my partner to materialize- with Amir back in the states I forgot what a drag it is to be in a climbing area without a partner when the weather is good!

Alpine Cragging at the Frey

Rapping with Monte Tronodor in the background

Alright all you cubicle jockeys, dirtbag rock monkeys and other riff-raff out there- grab a beer, kick yer feet up, and enjoy the latest cheap thrills coming at you from the Fin del Mundo in Patagonia.

La Tapia

I just got down from 14 days of great tower climbing up in the alpine playground known as Frey. Just a 4 hour hike out of the town of Bariloche, this place has got it all to keep even the diehard crack addicts and slab masters happy. But what really gets this place on the worldwide climbing map is the sheer amount of towers which end in super small summit needles.

Camponile Esloveno

Amir and I did 2 separate trips up there, as the initial haulbag load of almost 90 lbs (food and gear for 7 days) nearly killed me.

Me climbing up the 5th pitch of Imaginate (Camponile)

We climbed on nearly every major formation, completing several long notable routes on the Camponile Esloveno, Torre Principal, and the Cohete Lunar. Frey is known for its sandbagged grades, and didnt disappoint in this regard. Much of the climbing is pretty heads up, which makes for quite an exciting experience on lead here.

The weather stayed pretty good for the most part: we only lost one full day to a storm that blew in, and had several late starts due to morning squalls. Some of the days definitely gave me some preperation for heading down south, the wind coming over the Andes on the Camponile and Principal was pretty intense.

The scene up there is much more hectic than Arenales, as there are many more non-climbers hiking through, and much more crowding on certain classic routes,. but the spread out nature of climbing at the Frey mitigates some of these downsides.

Over all, it was a great 2 weeks, getting a lot of routes ticked off with Amir before I take off in a couple days to head down south and he heads back to the states.

Hopefully I can figure out a way to get pics off my camera soon, so again, all the shots are from Amir.

Until the next one, which will be coming straight from the deep down south, the icebox of El Chalten.

Success on Cerro Rincon

Cerro Colorado

Hola chicos and chicas, coming to you live from Bariloche, in the middle of the twister that just touched down, the newest installment of the Patagonia Sufferfest 2009!
After Arenales, I was unable to get a ticket down to Bariloche to climb at the Frey due to New Year´s crowds, so Amir and I went back up to the Cordon del Plata to do some more climbing at altitude, and I hoped to have a bit more success on some of the peaks in the back of the valley that I got too sick to climb earlier on last month.
We went out with light alpine packs and based ourselves out of Refugio San Bernardo where we could cook our food and sleep without having to take tents out with us. The trade-off is that the refugio is only at 9,000 ft. With three days out there to spend before needing to be back in Mendoza to catch our bus, we had limited options.
Day one we climbed Cerro Adolfo Calle (13,470 ft) for acclimazation, an easy trekking summit in the middle of the valley.

Summit of Cerro Adolfo Calle

The next day we just hung out around the refugio, sleeping and eating lots of food, as we planned to leave at 2am the next morning to attempt Cerro Rincon at the far end of the valley, in a single push. This would shape up to be a big day.
We left the refugio at 2:15am, hiking by headlamp. We reached Campo Salto (13,500 ft) at 7am, and rested for 30 minutes or so in the mess tent drinking hot tea and stretching, and trying to warm our cold fingers.

View towards Mendoza from below Campo Salto

Underneath the Supercanaleta on Rincon

The glacier and Cerro Rincon on the right, Cerro Plata in the background

We left shortly thereafter, crossing Stepanek Glacier, underneath the impressive but out of season Supercanaleta, to gain the East Ridge of Rincon. It was a long slog up the ridge to 15,500ft where we took our last break before the final push up to the summit ridge and to the top. The problem: this far into the season the normal snow couloir leading up to the summit ridge becomes a postholing nightmare through deep penitentes (suncups). We opted to flank the couoir through a series of rockbands. It took us 2.5 hours to routefind through some pretty nasty choss, but we finally hit the long summit ridge. I am feeling pretty toasted at this point, and am making a strong case for heading back, but it is purely physical exhaustion and not symptoms of AMS, so Amir pushes me on, and by 1:30pm, we are standing atop Cerro Rincon, at 17,017 ft. The views west towards Chile and unknown chains of peaks in the distance were breathtaking. The Andes are BIG.

The final summit ridge.

On the way down, negotiating the foul rock bands was no fun, and we got lost in a thick fog whiteout for 30 minutes or so before we navigated our way back onto the east ridge and down to Salto.
The clock stopped when we hit the refugio again, for a total time of 16 hours 25 minutes, 8,000 ft gained to the summit (16,000 total).

Amir on summit.

Me at summit

Sadly these are the only pictures I have for now, for some reason my camera isn´t working, so all photo credits go to Amir.
I am now in the Frey, having climbed sick granite spires for the last 6 days up there and leave tomorrow for another 8, so pictures and updates will soon follow.
Ciao...

Spires, Splitters and Cabernet Sauvignon

Here it is, straight from the frontline, all the news that´s fit to print, coming to you live from the scorching cubicle in the heart of malbec country.
I just got back yesterday afternoon after 11 days in El Cajon de los Arenales, a deep canyon located in the "foothills" of the Andes Range at around 10,000ft, whose main claim to fame is a ridiculous number of steep granite spires split by record number of perfect splitter cracks. With just enough information to get me psyched, but not enough to give me any idea what was in store for me, I rallied out with my friend Amir to see what all the fuss was about.
We were not disappointed. What we found and climbed there during our stay equaled many of the 5 star free climbing routes in Yosemite.

Basecamp

The view.

The further you work up the canyon, the longer and more involved the routes become. Every single route we climbed was a classic in its own right, ascending laser cut splitters and exposed ridges leading to sometimes very small summit blocks on top of slender needles (agujas), the most memorable being Armonica (210m, 5.10b), El Escorpion (220m, 5.11a), and Mundo Interior (170m, 5.11b). The length of these routes might seem long just on their own, but also realize that the bases of these climbs were often more than 1,900 vertical feet away up a 45 degree scree and talus slope. So every day it was almost 4,000ft of gain and decent just to get to the climbing!

Me on crux pitch of Mundo Interior, Aguja Espina

Me on Summit of Aguja Espina

While we basecamped at the upper end of the canyon, near the upper climber´s refugio, Amir and I made a ton of great Argentine and Basque friends, and lived it up with the beverage of choice, a fine (or not-so-fine) wine passed around ring-of-fire style.

Summit shot on Aguja Charles Webis, after El Escorpion

Each route we climbed was a bit longer and harder, as we got a feel for the grades and climbing, in preparation for the granddaddy of the trip out to Arenales, an ascent of the route Mejor no Hablas ciertas cosas (500m, 5.11a) on the North Pillar of El Cohete, a massive granite pillar which captivates the imaginations of climbers in the Arenales.
So we racked, we hiked, and we sent. The route itself was rad- we simulclimbed 200m of rotten rock to get to the base of the pillar, where the hard climbing started right off the bat. Many pitches and several difficult cruxes later, with cold temps and numb hands we stood on the summit and let out a big monkey call to our friends up in the spires before beginning the many hours of rappels to get back down to the base.

Amir on the OW pitch 7 El Cohete

Pitch 9 El Cohete

Our Basque friend Jon climbing Pichulla de Caballo at night (5.13a)

El Cajon de los Arenales is an amazing place with an insane amount of potential, and I plan to make a return trip already. But for now, it is time for some New Year´s Fiestas, and then down to Bariloche to climb in the world-renowned Frey area.

¡Hasta Luego!

Cordon Del Plata

Alright, here it is folks, the first installment of the long awaited, much debated, highly anticipated Patagonia Reports. But to be honest, the Cordon del Plata is in Mendoza, which is more central Argentina. The Cordon del PLata is a sub range of peaks within the Andes, the highest of which is Cerro Plata (around 20,000ft). My goal was Cerro Vallecitos (17,000), a really beautiful looking climb up a long summit ridge. So I get dropped off by my buddy Joe at the trailhead leading into the valley after staying with him at his house in Tupungato. The town is at 3,000ft and the trailhead is at 9,100ft. This alone is enough to give most people quite a little headache.
Mistake Number 1: I had only given myself 4 days to get up to basecamp and climb the peak, since I had to be down to Mendoza to meet a friend to go start getting on the real rock this trip is all about.
Mistake Number 2: In order to get this done, I chose to go all the way to Campo Salto (13,800 or so) on day one, passing a couple other lower camps. This would put me in much better position to climb the higher peaks at the end of the valley, but force my body to either put up or shut up. It chose the latter. At 13,100, well short of the steep scree ascent to Campo Salto, I was getting pounded by AMS, and decided to put up my tent a couple hundred feet lower along side a snowfilled moraine. Feeling quite shitty still and unable to sleep, I made the ultimate decision to leave most of my gear in my tent and hike out back down to the refugio (mountain hut) at 9,000ft to sleep. I got a decent sleep in side the refugio, but had to head back up the valley in the morning to either get my stuff and come down or push my camp up higher to Salto. Sadly, the weather forecasted was not looking good, and I was hammered after hiking 15 miles and ascending/decending over 16,000ft in 2 days. So I packed it in and am now down in the stifling heat of Mendoza getting ready to take a bus back to Tupungato after I get some topos of climbs in the los Arenales Canyon, which is where I am heading next as soon as I meet up with Amir.
Campo las Veguitas




Until the next one...

Packing and Racking

Patagonia Sufferfest 08/09 is getting ready to kick things into high gear!  Well, the days are getting shorter, nights are getting colder, and I am almost ready to go.  The tent is seam sealed, crampons are sharpened, and the flask is ready to be filled!  Leaving on Sunday morning for Buenos Aires to visit a friend for a few days, then off to Mendoza to climb in the Cordon del Plata, hoping to summit Cerro Plata (5,800 meters), as well as some lower peaks before going south and suffering on the real stuff.   

Here is just a little taste of what's to come, a shot of the Cerro Torre group, and a foreshortened view of the route Rubio y Azul on the Torre de la Media Luna which I'll be getting on a little later in the trip...   photo courtesy dave daly.   I will be posting photos and updates here for the most part, so check here to get the buzz on Patagonia Sufferfest 08/09! Take care and have a kick ass winter, wherever you are, whatever you're doing.