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SUMMARY
NEPAL
CHILE
Still a subject of controversy and debate, the official winter season in
Nepal runs from the 1st December - 15th February, dates that
contrast significantly with the generally accepted Northern
Hemisphere calendar winter that spans the 21st December - 20th
March. The following ascents and attempts are those that are known
to have taken place during the official 2006-2007 winter: perhaps only
the second winter ascent - in Alpine style by two Koreans - of the
North East Ridge of Kwangde Shar; an impressive almost complete
ascent of the difficult Lhotse South Face, where members of a strong
Japanese expedition were forced to stop on the summit ridge; an
ascent and tragedy on Ama Dablam, and the first calendar winter
ascent of Tawoche’s East Ridge - by an American team.
This report covers events in Patagonia’s Torres del Paine National Park.
Apart from the first winter crossing of the Hielo Patagonico Norte, all
ascents took place during the 2006-07 austral summer season. These
include: an impressive second ascent of Golazo on the Central Tower of
Paine by a strong primarily-Russian team; the shennanigans needed to
make the first BASEjump in the Park, also from the Central Tower; a
valiant British attempt on a new route up the South Tower, the longawaited second ascent of La Escoba de Dios on the East Face of Cerro
Catedral, new French routes on Cuernos Norte and Trono Blanco, and a
fine, new, predominantely-free route on Cerro Cota 2000 by a powerful
Italian party.
PHOTODIAGRAMS
MONGOLIA
The highest mountains in Mongolia lie in the remote Tabun Bogdo, a
compact group of snow and ice peaks that form part of the Altai
Range. Here, British climbers braved harsh conditions and low
temperatures to make the first winter ascent of the North Ridge of
Huiten, the country’s highest mountain.
ASIA
NEPAL WINTER 2006-07
ROWALING HIMAL
Kwangde Shar
A little before midday on the 17th December,
Koreans Yu Hak-jae and Park Seok-hee reached
the 6,093m summit of Kwangde Shar, having
made an alpine-style ascent of the quasi-classic
North East Ridge. Their first attempt, which
began on the 10th, was thwarted by heavy
snowfall but the weather was deemed good
enough for a second attempt on the 15th. The
ridge is exposed to wind, and in winter is usually
stripped of most of its snow to produce what is
primarily a rock climb on generally sound
granite. The pair travelled quite light for winter
conditions, taking warm sleeping bags and down
suits but only one gaz cylinder, minimal food and
Route photodiagrams in this issue include Lhotse South Face, Tawoche,
Huiten, Central Tower of Paine and Cerro Cota 2000. There is also a large
panorama of all the Paine Towers and a sketch map of the region.
Read the full 13 page report free at www.climbmagazine.com
no tent or mats. They made their first bivouac at
5,300m and their second at c5,800m, having
found the climbing to be increasingly complex in
the upper section. The leader often had to put on
crampons for short sections but the second
climbed without. On the third day each pitch took
at least one hour to climb and route finding was
confusing due to the presence, here and there, of
ancient fixed rope. High on the route they came
to what appeared to be a blank section, but
traversing onto the right flank, overlooking the
steep North Face, they spotted a crack with an
old rusty piton. Negotiating this section gave one
of the hardest pitches.
On reaching the summit they rappelled the
steep South Face and traversed east towards the
gap between Kwangde Shar and Nupla,
bivouacking again at 5,140m. Next day they
crossed the watershed at the gap and made 25
rappels in the couloir on the far side, all from
pegs and slings. They regained Base Camp the
same day and gave their route the American
grade of VI 5.9.
Originally, the Koreans thought they were
making the first winter ascent of the peak, but
this was achieved long ago by Mick Chapman
and Colin Pont, who climbed a new route from
the south on the 7th December 1982. The first
calendar winter ascent of the mountain and the
first winter ascent of the North East Ridge took
place on the 8th January 1983 when Kenji Fujita,
Shiniya Ikuta, Mazasru Mizukami, Yasuki
Nishimoto and Yozo Yojoyama reached the
summit, having spent the previous five weeks
establishing two camps on the ridge and fixing
most of the steeper upper section.
The first ascent of the North East Ridge took
place in late October 1978, the year the peak was
first opened to foreign climbing parties. The
ridge forms an inverted Y and after an initial
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The North side of the Kwangde group after heavy snowfall. On the left is Kwangde Shar (6,093m) with the North East Spur - the 1978 British Route - separating sunlight and
shadow. This received an alpine-style winter ascent by two Koreans in December 2006. To the right and in shadow lies the steep Hungo Face. The left side of this face, which
lies below the summit of Kwangde Shar, is taken by the French route, Extra Blue Sky. To the right, leading to the higher top of Kwangde Lho (6187m) are several hard mixed
and ice routes, including the original Breashears-Lowe and the most recent Normal Routes have Nothing Extraordinary. Right again and catching the morning sun is
Kwangde Nup (6,035m). See APRIL 2008 INFO for a photodiagram of all routes on the Hungo Face. THE JULES CARTWRIGHT TRUST
foray, thwarted by bad weather, Roger Everett
and Lindsay Griffin completed the climb from a
high camp with one bivouac. On their first
reconnaissance they climbed easy rock to the
crest of the left branch of the inverted Y and
moved along easily to the point where it turns
left and shoots straight up for around 850m to
the summit. Descending from this point they
found an easy glacier that outflanked the left
branch to the south, and used this to regain their
high point on the second and final attempt. The
ridge was in very snowy condition and climbed in
crampons throughout, the crux being a short but
bold pitch on the nose of a smooth barrelshaped rock buttress covered with snow (most
likely the same pitch noted by the Koreans). The
pair descended the South Face with two
bivouacs and had much fun trying to find a way
out of the Lumding Valley, over a high pass to
the Dudh Kosi, and back to civilization in
Namche. Rappelling had been more or less out
of the question: on arrival at Base Camp, after a
14-day approach (which in those days started
70 MAY 08
from the Friendship Highway) with a variety of
porters, they discovered that one of their two
9mm ropes had been stolen and the second cut
to give a remaining length of less than 30m.
Recent ascents of the ridge in mixed conditions
report at least one passage of Scottish 6: the
first time it was climbed throughout as a rock
route may well have been in 1990, when two
Americans negotiated 35 pitches from YDS 4 to
5.8/5.9.
MAHALANGUR HIMAL KHUMBU SECTION
Lhotse
An expedition from the Tokai Section of the
Japanese Alpine Club, which joined forces with a
Korean team, made the first winter ascent of the
South Face of Lhotse (8,516m) as far as the
summit ridge. Unfortunately, they were not able
to continue along the final section to the highest
point.
The great Japanese expedition leader and
Himalayan climber, Osamu Tanabe, attempted
the face in winter during 2001 and 2003, on the
former reaching 7,600m and the latter a
creditable 8,250m. Due to dangerous rock fall on
the face, even in winter, Tanabe decided that two
attempts were enough, but was finally
persuaded to organize a third for 2006. His team
comprised Katsuhito Fujikawa (41), Noriyuki
Kenmochi (37), Atsushi Senda (32), Takahiro
Yamaguchi (33) and Toshio Yamamoto (32).
The Japanese first acclimatized by climbing
the Normal Route on Xixabangma in October,
and then after a rest in Kathmandu trekked to
Base Camp (5,200m) below Lhotse, where they
found Lee Choong-jik and his Korean expedition
members Ahn Chi-young, Kim Hyung-il, Choi
Jun-yeol, Seong Nak-jong and Kang Ki-seok.
Both teams got on well and decided to join
forces, opening the route together. Camp 1 at
5,900m was established on the 23rd November
with the face in very snowy conditions. After this,
wind became the main problem; not fierce like
you would expect to find in mid winter, but still
strong enough that on the 28th Senda and
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A
B
C
D
E
7
X
3
6
1
4
2
8
9
5
The over 3,000m high South Face of Lhotse and Lhotse Shar as seen from Island Peak. (A) Pt 8,426m. (B) Pt 8,475m.
(C) Lhotse Main (8,516m). (D) Lhotse Middle (8,410m). (E) Lhotse Shar (8,382m). (1) Slovenians Knez and Matijevec
made a last ditch attempt on the summit via this line in 1981. They arrived on the West Ridge at 8,100m. (2) The line
attempted by many expeditions, leading to Pt 8,426m. In 1981 Slovenians were beaten back from a height of ca
8,250m, just short of the end of the technical difficulties (point marked X). (3) The line followed by the JapaneseKorean winter expedition, which reached Pt 8,475m on the summit ridge. (4) Soviet Direttissima (summit reached by
Bershov and Karatayev after the pair had spent six days above 8,000m). (5) French attempt in alpine style to 7,600m
(Beghin/Profit, 1989). (6) The line followed on three ocassions by Polish expeditions. On the third, in 1989, Jerzy
Kukuczka had virtually reached the summit ridge at close to 8,400m when he fell to his death. (7) The final section of
the 2001 Russian Route up Lhotse Middle, which primarily climbed the North Face. (8) South face of Lhotse Shar Czechoslovak Route (summit first reached by Demjan, 1984). (9) The South East Ridge of Lhotse Shar. This is the
original route to the summit climbed in 1970 by Siegfried Aeberli's Austrian team. THE JULES CARTWRIGHT TRUST
Lhotse South Face in winter. A Japanese climber on the delicate traverse from Camp 3 at 8,000m towards the final couloir.
AHN CHI-YOUNG/LEE YOUNG-JUN COLLECTION
Yamamoto were blown 10m across the face on
their fixed ropes at an altitude of 6,800m. The
wind also caused much spindrift and rock fall,
providing a regular menace to the High Altitude
Sherpas, some of whom sustained injuries.
Camp 2 was established on the 1st December at
7,100m and a temporary Camp 3 on the 6th at
7,300m. The headwall immediately above Camp 2
proved particularly difficult and from temporary
Camp 3 to c7,500m the terrain was steep and
sported three sets of wire ladders dating back to
a 1981 Slovenian Expedition. Despite the fact that
these were damaged in many places, the
Japanese and Koreans opted to use them to
open the route. In a normal winter they would
have wanted to reach the summit by Xmas, after
which the lowering jet stream generally makes
climbing impossible at very high altitudes.
However, in 2006 the monsoon was late, which in
turn meant the winter arrived late. Even so, high
winds prevented any progress until the 13th.
One significant contribution to the 2003 failure
was that Camp 3 was sited too low, so 45-year
old Tanabe, with Yamaguchi and Ngawang
Tenzing Sherpa made a great effort to push the
route out to 8,000m, where they eventually
established the top camp. As with their previous
attempts to this point, the Japanese were
following the line of the 1981 Slovenian
expedition. Above, lay a steep rocky prow leading
up to Pt 8,426m on the summit (south west)
ridge. In ‘81, after one previous summit attempt
and in a very spirited effort, Slovenians, Pavel
Podogornik, Andrej Stremfelj and Nejc Zaplotnik,
reached a height of c8,250m on the prow, just
above the last rock step and at the start of the
final snow arête. Here, they were forced down by
very high wind and drifting snow. Nowadays, this
is widely accepted to be the best attempt on this
line.
In 2003 the Japanese found the start of the
prow highly problematical and instead opted to
descend 200m to the right across steep friable
rock in order to gain a prominent couloir, which
leads to the summit ridge east of the highest
point. This couloir did not prove easy and it took
the Japanese five days to fix rope from their high
camp to a point 250m from the top, where they
retreated.
On the 21st Koreans Ahn Chi-young and Kang
Ki-seok, with Japanese Noriyuki Kenmochi and
Atsushi Senda, and Sherpas Pema Tsering and
Pasang, reached Camp 3, and the next day set
out for the traverse, which had been equipped by
Tanabe’s group as far as a point where a rappel
could be made into the couloir. Ki-seok retreated
immediately and Pasang later in the day. The
remaining members made the rappel and then
traversed 300m further right to a second
narrower couloir rising towards the summit. On
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Looking into the very steep final couloir followed by the
Japanese-Korean winter expedition. They were unable
to force the quasi-vertical exit pitch and instead made
an ascent of the difficult left wall. The couloir is
squeezed between the flanks of the spur to the left,
followed by Slovenians to a height of 8,250m in 1981
and the spur on the right, climbed by Russians in 1990.
AHN CHI-YOUNG/LEE YOUNG-JUN COLLECTION
Camp 2 dug precariously into
the South Face of Lhotse at
7,100m. One more camp was
established at 8,000m before
Japanese climbers made the
first winter ascent to the top
of the face. Unfortunately,
they were unable to continue
up the final ridge to the
summit. Low down to the
right is the North Ridge of
Island Peak (6,165m), while
above in the middle distance
lies 7,057m Baruntse North
(the smaller pointed summit
on the ridge to its left is
6,677m Numri) with the
higher summit of Baruntse
(7,152m) just behind. Behind
this, in the far distance, is the
Chamlang Massif (7,321m),
while the pointed snow peak
to the left looks like Peak 6
(aka Tutse: 6,758m)
AHN CHI-YOUNG/LEE YOUNGJUN COLLECTION
72 MAY 08
the 23rd only the Japanese were able to push the
route further and the 24th marked the first
summit bid. They reached the high point in the
couloir, a narrow channel with steep retaining
walls between the 1981 Route on the left and the
1990 Soviet Direttissima on the right. The route
was extremely exposed to rock fall and half way
up all three climbers - Ahn Chi-young, Kenmochi
and Senda - were hit. Later a large rock struck
Ahn Chi-young on the arm, causing a lot of
blood. He continued, but at 8,200m the pain was
too great and all three decided to return to Camp
3. It was then left to Tanabe, Tanaguchi and
Pemba Choti to make one final attempt, which
they did on the 26th. Climbing through the upper
couloir they were surprised to discover an old
fixed rope: they were not aware that anyone had
set foot in this couloir before, but the rope
possibly originates from the 1990 Soviet
Expedition. The head of the couloir was blocked
by a very steep rock wall that was deemed
impossible (it’s likely that Sergei Bershov and
Vladimir Karataev climbed somewhere in this
vicinity on their bold summit day in 1990). The
Japanese spotted a hard but viable route up the
friable rock of the left wall, climbed 50m of this
line and then called it a day - the wall led to the
summit ridge but traversing from here to the
summit would involve a descent and subsequent
re-ascent along the crest. They returned to
camp, rested and on the following day, the 27th,
re-ascended their ropes to the high point, where
Tanaguchi completed his lead of the wall and
reached the crest at 8,475m. It was now 3.35pm:
only 200m of horizontal distance and 41m of
altitude gain separated them from the main top,
but they were exhausted and it was too late in
the day to continue safely. Camp was regain at
9.15 that night after a 15-hour day. Members of
the expedition starting using oxygen below
8,000m and the team fixed a total of 5,700m of
rope on this 3,000+m-high wall, one of the most
famous in the World.
With Cesen’s claim discounted, the only line
completed up the South Face to reach the Main
Summit is the 1990 Direttissima, while, to date,
only one man has stood at the highest point in
winter: on the 31st December 1988 the
legendary Polish winter specialist Krzysztof
Wielicki left camp at 7,300m on the West Face
and made a bold solo push up the Normal Route
to the summit. Although, the route to this camp
had already been prepared by a Belgian EverestLhotse winter expedition, Wielicki’s ascent was
remarkable, no less for the fact that he was
wearing a specially made corset to support his
back after a nasty injury in a fall (which
shortened his height by one centimetre) earlier
the same year. Wielicki climbed the upper
1,200m in just nine and a half hours.
Ama Dablam
There were three attempts to climb the South
West Ridge of Ama Dablam in winter, though
only two took place during the calendar winter
season. A Korean team, operating in early
December, failed. A second Korean team made
three summit attempts during January, the third
on the 20th. On the second, a week before, they
gave up at 6,400m due to strong winds. The third
team - Spanish - that arrived at Base Camp in
mid January, progressed quickly up the
mountain and on the 19th three members went
for the summit from Camp 2. At the Shoulder,
where no camp was established, two returned,
reckoning that conditions were not conducive to
a summit attempt: it was very cold and there
were strong gusts of wind. The third member
and expedition leader, Guillermo Mateo,
continued and was seen to reach the top at
5.30pm. He’d told the other pair he would
descend to Camp 2 by head torch. Observers
saw him start down, not along the ridge as
might be expected but more directly down the
West Face. Although this seemed strange, they
suspect he might have been looking for a
crevasse in which to spend the night. In any
case, only 50m from the summit he fell, possible
blown off balance by the strong wind. He
continued the length of the face. That day there
had been two big avalanches from the Dablam
and team members deemed it simply too
dangerous to try to locate Mateo’s body from the
foot of the wall.
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5
1
3
7
2
4
6
Tawoche (6,495m) from the north east. (1) South East Pillar (Knapp/Schlonvogt, 1990, c1,300m). (2) South East Face
Original Route (Brugirard/Dubost/Gendre/Michel/Seigneur, April 1974: c1,300m). (3) The descent used by the American
quartet after their 2007 winter ascent of the East Ridge: very similar to the 1985 Japanese Couloir. (4) East Ridge (most
likely Etherington/Schneider, 1989, but first calendar winter ascent by Erickson/Knoff/Lynn/Magro, February 2007:
c1,300m: 5.9 and AI 2). (5) East South East Face (Steck, solo, 2005: c1,200m: M5 and generally 50-60°). (6) North East
Face Direct - American Route (Lowe/Roskelly, February 1989: c1,200m: 5.10, A3 and WI 6). (7) North East Pillar - British
Route (Fowler/Littlejohn, 1995: c1,200m: Entry pitches of hard free rock followed by sustained ice/mixed at an average
grade of Scottish VI with a little A2). Other photos of Tawoche appear in JULY 2006 INFO. THE JULES CARTWRIGHT TRUST
Tawoche
In February 2007 Americans Kristoffer Erickson,
Adam Knoff, Ross Lynn and Whit Magro made
the third calendar winter ascent of 6,495m
Tawoche. Together with Seth Hobby and Renan
Ozturk, the four set up Base Camp at c5,000m
above the village of Pangboche. The latter pair
attempted the South Ridge, thinking that it
might be unclimbed. They climbed to the top of
the first long steep buttress and bivouacked on
its top through a storm. Next morning they went
for the summit in unstable weather and were
defeated by a difficult rock wall. The descent
proved hard work and more or less destroyed
their ropes. Throughout the climb they had
found bolts, pegs and fixed rope, and were
almost certainly following the line of the 1990
German route. In the autumn of that year
Adam Knoff traversing the upper East Ridge of Tawoche (6,495m) with Whit
Magro and Ross Lynn behind. In the background are the familiar peaks of
Nuptse, Everest, Lhotse and, on the far right, Makalu. KRISTOFFER ERICKSON
Jurgen Knapp and Axel Schlonvogt sieged the
initial steep buttress, overcoming hard technical
rock, to reach the pinnacled ridge above, which
they followed to join the Original 1974 French
Route to the summit. They referred to their
climb as the South East Pillar.
In the meantime the other four were more
successful on their attempt to climb the East
Ridge. This is the 1,000m rocky ridge that forms
the left edge of the huge snow and ice slope of
the East South East Face soloed by Ueli Steck in
the spring of 2005 (see JULY 2006 INFO). At the
top it joins the upper snowy section of the
Original Route. Climbing in two pairs, the four
reached c6,000m on their first day, either
climbing unroped, moving together or pitching
terrain that varied from loose scree to
wonderful pitches of 5.9. In the final section the
direct line is blocked by a steep rock step, so
the team traversed left below this and up more
mixed terrain. After 12 hours on the go, they
emerged onto the Original Route, which at this
point is a south east facing glaciated slope.
There, they set up bivouac tents. The
temperature that night dropped to -30°C. Next
day they climbed 500m of snow and ice up to
70° and reached the summit at 10am on the 4th
February. They then reversed the route to the
end of the leftward traverse on the ridge, but
instead of following it back to the crest, kept
rappelling straight down, most probably
following the line of the Japanese Couloir (a
variation on the Original Route, climbed by
Japanese in 1985 to make the first official
ascent of the mountain), to regain the lower
section of the Original Route. Half way through
the descent a snow storm hit and made further
progress laborious (this was the same storm
that hit the pair on the South East Pillar at their
bivouac) but eight hours after leaving the
Early February in the Khumbu. Kristoffer Erickson on the lower section of 6,495m Tawoche’s East
Ridge during the first calender winter ascent. ROSS LYNN
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attempt on the unclimbed
British climbers made the first winter ascent of
South West Ridge, which had
the North Ridge of Huiten, the country’s highest
been the main goal of the
mountain.
expedition. They bivouacked at
c5,600m having found mostly
TABUN BOGDO
good rock and harder climbing
Huiten
than on the East Ridge. Next
On the 22nd December 2006 Gregory Leonard
day they awoke to a storm and
and Graham Taylor made the second winter
were forced to rappel.
ascent of Huiten (4,374m), the highest peak in
Back at Base Camp they
Mongolia. Both British climbers have lived and
made a somewhat epic escape
worked in Mongolia’s capital, Ulaan Baatar, for
from the Khumbu: it snowed
more than six years and Taylor had already
more than a metre, which even
made two unsuccessful winter attempts in 1999
the locals declared was an
and 2000; on both occasions thwarted by
unusual sight. At Lukla they
extreme cold and poor weather.
Kristoffer Erickson (left) and Whit Magro down-climb the upper slopes
had to spend two full days with
Huiten (aka Khuiten Uul), meaning Cold
towards the head of the Japanese Couloir on the South East Face of Tawoche.
The rocky base of the East Ridge is visible far below. ADAM KNOFF
some of the locals clearing the
Mountain in Mongolian, lies in the north west
runway in order to allow planes
corner of Mongolia, just three kilometres south
summit all four climbers were safely back in
to take off for Kathmandu. They landed there
of the icy dome of Naraimdal Uul (Friendship
Base Camp. The c1,500m route was graded VI
three hours before the scheduled departure of
Peak, 4,184m), the geopolitical triple point
5.9 AI 2.
their international flight home.
where Mongolia, Russia, and China converge. It
Although it has been impossible to confirm,
INFO: Ahn Chi-young/Kristoffer Erickson/Peter
is the highest point of the Tabun Bogdo (aka
this ridge is most likely the line climbed in
Jensen-Choi/Whit Magro/Tamotsu Nakamura and
Tavan Bogd) mountains, a small range forming
December 1989 by David Etherington (UK) and
the Japanese Alpine News/Osamu Tanabe and the
part of the c1,500km Altai, which runs along
Joerg Schneider (Germany). They report making
reference sources of the American Alpine Journal,
Mongolia’s south western border with China
two bivouacs; the first at c5,600m and the
Alpine Club Himalayan Index and The Himalayan
and into Russian Siberia, where, 100km to the
second at 6,140m. They reached the summit on
Database
north of Huiten, it culminates in Bielukha
the 11th and were able to regain the foot of the
(4,506m). By the easiest route it is a
mountain the same day by a line similar to the
straightforward snow climb and was first
MONGOLIA
Japanese Couloir. The ridge had previously been
ascended in 1956 by the Russian climber
The highest mountains in Mongolia lie in the
climbed to within 100m of the upper glaciated
Pieskariow and 12 Mongolians. They climbed
Tabun Bogdo, a compact group of snow and ice
slopes by Andy Black and Mal Duff (UK). In April
the North Ridge to the North Summit (4,370m)
peaks that form part of the Altai Range. Here,
1988 this pair appear to have reached the steep
rock step blocking the top of the ridge and
traversed left into the upper section of the
Japanese Couloir. However, it had now been
snowing for sometime and the pair elected to
retreat down the couloir, which Duff had
climbed on a previous occasion. The Americans
C
B
found an empty gaz cylinder pushed into a
A
crack on a perfect bivouac ledge at c5,500m.
They also found an old snow stake above their
tent site, which they surmise had probably been
used as a rappel anchor higher up the summit
slopes and later melted out. In both ascent and
descent this was the only evidence they found of
previous passage. For certain, theirs was the
first calendar winter ascent of the route.
The first calendar winter ascent of the
mountain (also the first time the mountain had
been attempted in winter) was achieved on the
12th January 1986 by a Korean team via a line
on the South East Face (either the Original
Route or more likely the Japanese Couloir). The
next was the historic ascent of the North East
Face Direct by Jeff Lowe and John Roskelly in
Crossing the upper Potanina Glacier toward Huiten (4,374m), Mongolia’s highest mountain. The second winter ascent,
February 1989. In 2007 the Americans probably
which took place on the shortest day of 2006, followed the North Ridge, (C), which is more or less the right skyline in the
made the third.
cloud. (B) is the relatively short but sharp arête of the North East Spur, while (A) is the South East Ridge, the line taken
Later, when the bad weather cleared,
on the first winter ascent of the mountain in 1998. LINDSAY GRIFFIN
Erickson, Knoff and Whit Magro made an
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One piece down suits essential for a winter attempt on
Mongolia's highest mountain. Gregory Leonard and
Graham Taylor on the approach to the North Ridge of
Huiten in December 2006. The pair would make the
first winter ascent of the North Ridge (second winter
ascent of the mountain) in temperatures of -20°C and
winds up to 100km/hour. GREGORY LEONARD
and presumably continued along the easy
linking ridge to the Main Top. It would have
been climbed again in 1967 by a primarily
Polish team led by Palczewski, who mopped up
many of the major satellite peaks. It was
climbed again, probably twice in the subsequent
two or three years, and during this period by the
South East Ridge (which appears to have been
first attempted in 1915 via the South East Ridge
from the Potanina Glacier by a pair of Russian
brothers), but then there seems to be little in
the way of recorded visits until after the fall of
the Soviet Union, when, in 1991, it received a
first Western ascent by the Dutchman, Ronald
Naar, via the Original Route (ski descent) and in
1992 by a new route, The South Ridge (or Back
of Beyond Ridge) by an Anglo-American trio.
The first winter ascent took place during a
remarkable expedition when Konstantin
Beketov and Russian friends made a 400km ski
traverse through Russia, Kazakhstan, China and
Mongolia, climbing both Beilukha and Huiten,
the latter on the 3rd March 1998. The team
chose the South East Ridge, as it is much easier
and quicker to access from the normal Base
Camp via an approach up the Potanina Glacier.
Throughout the day they were hampered by
poor weather; strong winds, snow storms and
temperatures down to -18°C. However, they
abandoned skis at the base of the narrow ridge
and cramponed upwards (40° maximum) to
While the northern slopes of Mongolia's highest mountain are relatively gentle, the unclimbed South Face, rising a little
over 1,000m above the Przewalski Glacier, is considerably steeper and forms the biggest snow and ice wall in the Tabun
Bogdo. The main summit of Huiten is the pointed top just right of centre, while the skyline left of this forms the upper
section of the South (Back of Beyond) Ridge climbed in 1992. The serac-strewn South Face exhibits obvious objective
danger and compounding this problem is its remote location; technically in Chinese territory. LINDSAY GRIFFIN
reach the South East Summit. From there it was
necessary to drop into a 25m deep, 10m wide,
knife-edge col, which was corniced on the east
side. From here it was a short distance to the
summit marker, the whole ascent taking
around two and a half hours (a summer AD).
Leonard and Taylor chose to tackle the North
Ridge and made a 15km snow shoe approach to
the normal site of the c3,000m Base Camp on
the moraines of the Potanina (snow level was
2,400m). From here they continued up the
glacier, climbing 30-40° slopes near the head,
to reach the North Col. The ascent from here to
the North Summit took one and a half hours
and involved climbing hard-packed snow to 45°.
From the North to Main Summit took only 15
minutes. Conditions on top were hostile with a
temperature of -20ºC and wind gusting to more
than 100 km/hr. A rapid descent was necessary.
Including the 15km approach from the Tabun
Bogdo National Park entrance, the pair
completed the climb in a 30-hour Alpine-style
push, beginning on December 21. The ascent
from Base Camp to the summit took 11 hours
and the descent back to Base a further five
hours. The overall grade was PD+. This was the
first winter ascent of the North Ridge, taking
place on the shortest day of the year when
there is only eight hours of daylight.
INFO: Gregory Leonard
CHILE
This report covers events in Patagonia’s Torres
del Paine National Park. Apart from the first
winter crossing of the Hielo Patagonico Norte,
all ascents took place during the 2006-07
austral summer season. These include an
impressive second ascent of Golazo on the
Central Tower of Paine by a strong primarilyRussian team, the shennanigans needed to
make the first BASEjump in the Park, also
from the Central Tower, a valiant attempt on a
new route up the South Tower, the longawaited second ascent of La Escoba de Dios on
the East Face of Cerro Catedral, new French
routes on Cuernos Norte and Trono Blanco,
and a fine, new, predominantely-free route on
Cerro Cota 2000 by a powerful Italian party.
PATAGONIA
PAINE NATIONAL PARK
Central Tower
From mid January to the early days of
February, Tim Akhmedkhanov, Igor Pekhterev
and leader Arkadiy Seregin (all from Russia),
with Sergiy Kovalov from the Ukraine,
completed the second ascent of Golazo on the
East Face, a route generally considered to be
the most difficult aid route to date on the
Towers.
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X
10
11
8
9
7
In February 1999, Americans Christian Santelices and Steve
Schneider started up the precipitous East Face right of the British
line, El Regalo de Mwoma (Craine/Prichard/Smith/Yates, 1992:
1,200m: VI 5.10 A4). They climbed slabby ground for 250m, then
shared parts of El Regalo for the next 150m until the latter route
traverses right to ascend a ‘1,000m-high knifeblade crack’. The two
Americans continued straight up, following very thin cracks in
amongst blank terrain. After seven days on the wall, when the pair
had reached the top of the 12th pitch and were waiting out a snow
storm, Santelices decided it just wasn’t for him. After a seemingly
amicable discussion, Santelices decided to descend while
Schneider opted to continue, climbing alone for 11 days to
complete Golazo (1,200m: VI 5.10 A4+), which he named after the
locally bought chocolate bars eaten on the climb (it is also a
popular South American expression for good sportsmanship). He
took a further two days to descend, having completed arguably one
of the most formidable solo first ascents in South America.
The Russian-Ukrainian team began fixing rope on the 14th
January. On the 20th they reached the big ledge at the top of the
ninth pitch, where they established two portaledges. After fixing
pitch 10 (A3+) the following day, they were forced down by a storm
and were unable to return until the 24th. This time they brought up
150 liters of drinking water from the lower section of the glacier
4
2
1
3
5
6
The Central Tower of Paine (2,460m) from the north east. Just off picture to the left is the
South Tower, while to the right is the 2,260m South Summit of the North Tower. (1) The
Whale of the Winds (Brand/de la Cruz/Hayward/Lazkano/Tamayo, November 1991: 1,000m:
24 pitches: A3+ and 6a). (2) Insumisioa (Melero/Saez/Urdanoz, 1994: 1,000m: A4 and
5.10b/c). (3) Magico Este (Giarolli/Orlandi/Salvaterra, October 1986: 1,000m: A3 and 6b). (4)
Riders on the Storm (summit reached by Albert and Arnold; Dittrich and Güllich, January
1991: 1,100m: 36 pitches: 7c and A2). (5) El Regalo del Mwoma (top reached by Pritchard and
Smith, January 1992: 1,100m: 34 pitches: A4 and 6a/b: Scottish IV/V). (6) Golazo (Schneider,
solo, 1999: 1,100m: 5.10 A4+). (7) Macaroni Porridge Junction (Holecek/Silhan/Stastny, 2000:
1,100m: 7a and A3+: a combination of the South African start to reach the crack of El Regalo
del Mwoma). (8) South African Route (summit reached by Scott/Smithers, 1974: 1,100m:
5.10 and A3). (9) Una Fina Linea de Locura (Calvo/Luro/Plaza, January 1993: 1,100m: 31
pitches: 6b and A3). (10) Top section of Original British Route (summit by
Bonington/Whillans, 1963: 650m: 6c+ all free). (11) South Ridge of North Tower aka Monzino
Route (Bich/Carrel/Pelissier/Pession, January 1958: 300m: D+: F6a). (X) marks the launch
site for the Russian BASE jump. ARKADIY SEREGIN
76 MAY 08
Sergiy Kovalov on Pitch 14 (A2/A2+) of Golazo on the East Face of the Central
Tower of Paine. In the background are the prominent black 'horns' of Cuerno
Central (2,110m: right) and Cuerno Este (c2,000m) above the Bader Valley. The
steepening rock ridge at the top left is the West North West Arête of Paine Chico
(2,668m) climbed in 2005 by Slovenians, Tomaz Jakofcic and Grega Lacen.
ARKADIY SEREGIN
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Sergiy Kovalov belayed at the top of pitch 14 on Golazo, East Face of the Central Tower of
Paine. It is so cold on the wall he has his legs inside the haul bag in order to keep warm.
ARKADIY SEREGIN
and 12 ropes, they decided to fix them all above their camp.
It took six days to climb the next three pitches: Pitch 11, which they
felt to be A5; Pitch 12 at A4/A4+, and Pitch 13 at A3+. These proved very
demanding and required huge quantities of copperheads, beaks and
RURPs. It was so cold that belayers had to sit inside the haul bags to
maintain even a remote sense of warmth. In addition, it was also windy
more or less every day – one of the main tents at Base Camp broke on
the very first night.
Pitches 14 through to 21 were somewhat easier at A2 or A2+, and
progress was somewhat faster. While the team found two bolts at each
belay up to the top of Pitch 15, above there was only one, so they added a
second to all the remaining belay anchors. On the 2nd February
Akhedkahnov and Pekhterev set off to complete pitches 20 and 21: the
next day all four climbers would try for the summit. They thought this
approach feasible as they knew Schneider had worked from a portaledge
camp at the top of pitch 14, fixed to the top of 18, and then from there
gone for the summit.
While the two were working on the route above, Kovalov and Seregin
took a rest day. It was sunny with valley cloud and a little wispy cirrus.
Seregin decided to check the food situation. It looked very promising:
there were 300 grams of whiskey and
enough food to make one more meal.
Reflecting on this, he suggested to
Kovalov at noon that they go for the
summit immediately and not wait for the
following day. Kovalov demurred. It was
cold and he didn’t want to leave his
sleeping bag. Seregin promised him bad
weather on the following day. Kovalov
didn’t believe him. Seregin pointed out
the valley mist and streaky high cloud.
Golazo team leader Arkadiy Seregin
Kovalov said it would be fine the next
ARKADIY SEREGIN COLLECTION
day. Seregin eventually had to forcibly
evict him from the portaledge and the pair
started jumaring at 1.30pm.
It took them four hours to reach the other two at the top of pitch 20,
then after Akhedkahnov had finished leading pitch 21, three ropes were
removed from the pitches below and all four went for the summit.
Seregin was overjoyed to find that by 8pm it was snowing, just as he had
predicted. Fortunately, the climbing was relatively straightforward,
though the rock was quite icy. The leader wore crampons and carried
two axes, while the rest followed as best they could. At 11.20pm all four
stood triumphantly on the summit of the Central Tower.
The descent was uneventful and by 6am on the 3rd they had regained
the portaledges, helped considerably by the calm conditions - before the
storm that began two hours later as they were descending the lower part
of the wall. However, at 4 that afternoon all four were safely on the
glacier. Seregin feels that Golazo is definitely harder than Reticent Wall
(Gerberding/Reddel/Stowe, 1995: VI A5 5.7: for a few years this was
deemed the hardest aid route on El Cap, although some climbers now
feel it is more like A4+) on the wall right of the Nose on Yosemite’s El
Capitan. He also reckons Schneider is a real hero: ‘He did a hard job: I’m
going to send him a bottle of our good Russian vodka’.
The well-known Russian Big Walls team led by Alexander Odintsov
was also in the Paine later the same month. They left Moscow on the
12th February with the primary objective of completing the first major
BASE jump in the Paine National Park. The other three members of the
team were Denis Provalov, the highly experienced Alexander Ruchkin
and the now famous BASE jumper Valeri Rozov. Having decided to
attempt the Original British Route on the Central Tower they were
Sergiy Kovalov managing a Big Wall rack and hand drilling in the middle section
of Golazo ARKADIY SEREGIN
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stopped at the Japanese Camp by rangers, who
told the Russians their permit was only for
climbing, not for BASE jumping, and they
should return to the National Park Office and
get a new one. Rozov said, “OK, I won’t jump”,
but the rangers were not to be swayed:
Provalov and Rozov descended, only to be told
at the office that their permit had now been
withdrawn and all four climbers should leave
the Park immediately. After negotiations, Rozov
signed a statement saying that if he gave his
parachute to the rangers and did not jump, the
team would be allowed to climb. Back on the
west side of the Torres, the Russians filled the
parachute bag with other light but bulky
material, gave it to the rangers, and with the
words, “this is very expensive, look after it”, set
off for the climb with Rozov’s parachute well
hidden in their rucksacks.
The four made an ascent of the British Route
over the 21st and 22nd February, finding
conditions cold and very windy but the climbing
relatively straightforward (around 5.10 and A2).
They reached a sloping tent site three pitches
below the summit at the end of the second day.
Rozov inspected a jump site above the East
Face, two pitches down from the tent site, just
above the top of routes on the right side of the
face such as the South African Diedre etc. He
could only reach a precarious launch site on a
rope and left two in place to speed up
proceedings next morning. However, next
morning the Russians were struggling to keep
the tent in one piece during violent gusts of
wind, and were forced to sit tight through a
typical Patagonian tempest until the morning of
the 24th, when the wind dropped. It was now or
never. Rozov regained the launch site, only to
find the wind speed was rising rapidly. He then
spent some time debating whether to jump. He
felt he could make the flight but wasn’t sure
about the landing site he had previously
reconnoitred on the moraine at the right side of
the lake. Eventually, he went for it, flying clear
of the face in a wingsuit and covering a distance
of 2,200m during his vertical drop of 1,400m to
the landing site. All went well for Rozov and his
57-second flight, although the storm that broke
in earnest just three hours later and would
subsequently last for four days, caused rather a
headache to the three remaining climbers, who
fought a hard battle to descend the mountain
the same day.
South Tower
British climbers Stu McAleese and Mike ‘Twid’
Turner made a spirited effort on a new route up
the Torre Sur (c2,500m), the highest and least
climbed of the three Paine Towers. The pair
had arrived in the Park to attempt the
unclimbed South Face from the Bader Valley.
However, once there they discovered that the
A classic view of the East Faces of the Torres del Paine. From left to right: Torre Sur (c2,500m); Torre Central (2,460m); the twin-summited Torre Norte (c2,260m Main summit on the left
and slightly lower North Summit to the right), and the crenellated ridge of Paineta (c2,200m). On Torre Sur, Hoth (Amelunxen/Easten, 2000: 1,050m: 5.10+, A4 and WI 2/3) takes the
immediate right flank of the prominent South East Pillar between sunlight and shadow (the shadow formed by the unclimbed South Face). The recent British attempt climbs the
immediate left flank, in shadow, to a point c300m below the top. ARKADIY SEREGIN
78 MAY 08
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one-kilometre-wide wall has no obvious lines
that link to the summit: half-way up the face
there is a continuous 200m-high grey band of
more or less compact granite. In the end they
were forced to tackle a line on the far right side
of the face, close to the South East Pillar.
Before 2000, when it was first climbed by
Canadians, Conny Amelunxen and Sean Easten,
the South East Pillar was a well-known and
rather coveted objective that had seen several
previous attempts. The two Canadians pulled
off probably the finest climb in the Paine during
the season when they completed Hoth (1,050m
and 27 pitches: 5.10+, A4 and WI 2/3), spending
a total of 24 days on the route, with 19 nights in
portaledges. Six sustained aid pitches in the
middle section took 11 days to complete during
particularly poor weather. The first section of
the pillar had been climbed in 1985 by South
Africans, David Davies and Jonathan Gordon,
with American Craig Peer. These three then
moved out right and made a valiant attempt to
climb the East Face, reaching a point just 150m
below the top before a rock fall broke Peer’s leg
(the face was subsequently climbed direct by
Michel Piola and Vincent Sprungli in 1992).
Another South African team is reported to have
reached the big roof at about half height on the
pillar before retreating, while during the 199697 season a Swiss team is also reported to
have made an epic retreat from the line after
one member broke a leg in a bad fall.
During the four weeks that McAleese and
Turner spent in the valley, they experienced
only eight hours of good weather. This side of
the mountain is always going to be cold and
highly exposed to the wind, and the latter at
times was estimated to be more than
150km/hour. Given the conditions, it is
impressive they managed anything at all.
However, they climbed up on to the start of the
ridge and then followed Hoth for a few pitches
before breaking out left and following a nearby
parallel line (this lies left of the crest on the
South flank, whereas Hoth lies to the right, on
the left-hand extremity of the East Face). They
made a portaledge camp 200m above the
glacier and then fixed ropes for a further 600m
during largely atrocious weather. Free climbing
was out of the question (though Turner feels
the line would go free in perfect conditions) and
there were many difficult aid pitches up to A3
involving hooking between hanging corner
systems. During their 15th day on the wall,
800m above the glacier and 15 pitches up the
route, the weather looked like it was about to
get much worse. The pair decided to retreat
back to their portaledge. Often blown
horizontally across the face on the ropes, the
two could only rappel by pulling themselves
[K]
1
2
The East Face of Cerro Cota 2000 (c2,000m) above the Valle del Francés in Paine National Park.
(1) Osa, ma non Troppo (Cagol/Larcher/Leoni/Orlandi, 2007: 700m of climbing: 7b, 7a obl and A3) and (2) The Keyhole
Route (Heaton/Reichert, 1997: 600m: 14 pitches: VI A4 5.10), with (K) the Keyhole. The 1993 Italian route on this face is
well off picture to the right. SPEDIZONE COTA 2000
down the fixed lines.
They sat out the storm in their tent for four
days and then were forced to re-ascend on the
fifth, in order to rescue as much gear and ropes
as they could to make an escape in time for
their pre-booked flights home. In the end they
had to abandon 150m of static, but brought the
rest out and spent a whole day clearing up
rubbish around the Bader Valley Base Camp.
Their high point was about 300m below the
summit and not far from an intersection with
Hoth. Above the junction the ground would
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Difficult jamming on the fist crack that forms the sixth pitch (6b and A1) of Osa, ma non Troppo, the new Italian route on
the East Face of Cota 2000. SPEDIZONE COTA 2000
ease: mostly straightforward snow, with three
or four harder pitches up to 5.9 and WI 3,
according to the Hoth topo. But the weather
was very much worse than anything Turner
had experienced in five previous visits to the
area and the pair was content to get off the
mountain alive. See photo in CLIMB March
2007 page 10.
Cerro Catedral
Members of the French National Young
Alpinists team (Equipe National de Jeunes
Alpinistes) under the supervision of the guide
Frédéric Salle visited the Paine during February
and March 2007. On the East Face of the 2,200m
Catedral, Jean Burgun, Victor Estrangin, Pierre
Labbre, Erwan Madoré and Jérôme Para made
the second ascent of La Escoba de Dios. This
950m (29 pitches) route, the first to climb the
striking East Face, was climbed in 1992 by
Americans Jon Catto, Charlie Fowler, Peter
Gallagher and Max Kendall, who fixed ropes
and used aid on most of the wall, rating the
route VI A4+ 5.10. They took a direct line left of
the summit fall line, arriving at a notch in the
South Ridge, up which they continued to the
top. The French climbed the route in 24 pitches,
spending six days fixing to the top of pitch 13.
Here, they installed a portaledge camp and
after fixing three more pitches and waiting out
plenty of bad weather in their base camp,
climbed the remaining seven pitches in one day
to reach the summit on the 7th March.
Difficulties were A4 and 6b, and all equipment
was removed from the wall. The French
thought route finding complex, despite the very
80 MAY 08
accurately drawn American topo. They only
found 10 pegs in place and on the occasions
that they inadvertently strayed off line, quickly
came to a dead end.
La Escoba de Dios was the first of, to date,
three routes on the East Face. A month after the
Americans summited, Paola Fanton, Fabio
Leoni, Mario Manica, and Danny Zampiccoli
completed the line of Il Velo dei Condor to the
left, stopping at a subsidiary summit on the
South Ridge about 100m lower than the main
top. This gave a 900m route at UIAA VII+ and
A3+. The following year Spanish climbers, Javier
Ballester, Jose Chaverri, Lorenzo Ortiz, and
Santiago Palacios completed Cristal de Roca, a
direct route to the right of La Escoba, more or
less following the fall line from the summit.
They fixed 650m, and 90% of the climbing was
aid up to A4 (with a little 6b). The first ascent of
the Catedral was made in 1971 by British
climbers Chris Jackson, Guy Lee, Dave Nicol,
Bob Shaw, Bob Smith and Roger Whewell. They
followed the gently angled but very sharp and
narrow North West Ridge in 21 pitches at UIAA
V+ and A2. It appears that La Escoba is the first
route on the Catedral to be repeated.
Cuerno Norte
From the 1st - 9th March, other members of
the French team, Julien Dusserre, JeanRoland Guillot, Clément Mounier, Salle and
Rémi Vignon added a second route to the
North West Face of Cuerno Norte. The original
ascent of this face is Cave Man, the 1992 line
climbed by Louise Thomas and Mike ‘Twid’
Turner at British E5 6a (around F7b) and A1
(Turner made two pendulums at half-height,
used a rest point and one other point of aid an 8mm bolt). The pair stopped after 500m
(and 21 pitches) at the top of the pillar, which
marks the start of the schist. The route was
climbed Alpine-style over two days on the
fourth attempt (two climbing ropes were left
fixed on the initial ground after the third
attempt). The route was repeated in 1997 by
Americans Ted Bonetti and Steve Schneider,
who reportedly found it a bit run out and rated
it 5.11 and A3 - whether they followed the
same line is questionable.
The French climbed the wall to the right, at
first slanting up left to touch the line of Cave
Man, before working back right and up the
middle of the wall, stopping at the schist. In all
they climbed 14 pitches up to 7a with a few
short sections of A1 and A2. As this aspect of
the peak is very exposed to any wind going,
which the French note on some days gusted to
over 150km/hour, they used fixed ropes. They
report most pitches give enjoyable climbing,
although pitch 11 was quite run out. The new
route has been named Dentelle de Roche
Trono Blanco
In late February Julien Dussere, Jehan-Roland
Guillot, Frédéric Salle and Rémi Vignon
climbed a new route on the c2,300m Trono
Blanco (aka Mellizo East) from the Valle del
Frances. The Trono Blanco lies north of the
Aleta del Tiburon (c1,850m) and was first
climbed in 1969 by the Chilean, Gaston
Oyarzun, and Czechoslovaks, Leos Horka and
Pavel Klimes. Before last year it had been
repeated a couple of times, the last reported
ascent in 1991. The French chose to tackle the
South Face. On the first attempt they climbed a
55° couloir on the east flank of the col between
Trono Blanco and Aleta del Tiburon, and then
fixed two ropes on the start of the South Face
above, a 180m steep granite headwall leading
to more mixed terrain. However, this approach
proved dangerous from rockfall (although
earlier in the season, with more snow, it might
be the best way). Instead, they returned to the
col by climbing its west flank, a series of easy
slabs at 4+, then fixed a few more pitches on
the headwall before returning to Base Camp.
On the 24th they completed the headwall (6c
and A1), then continued up 500m of mixed
ground (55° and M5) to reach the summit. They
descended more or less along the line of their
route; Hoja de Rosa (1,000m: ED1: 6c, A1, 55°
and M5). During their attempts and eventual
ascent the weather was unstable, with strong
winds, and the climb was compared to the
Forastier Route on the North Face of the
Ailefroide in the Ecrins Massif.
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Cerro Cota 2000
Briefly reported in May 2007 CLIMB, an Italian
team, comprising some of the best known
names in Patagonian wall climbing, added a
third route to the East Face of Cerro Cota
2000.
Elio Orlandi is 53 and has now visited
Patagonia on 20 occasions: Fabio Leoni is 43
and has been 10 times. These two were joined
by 44 year-old Michele Cagol, making his third
visit, and the well-known big wall free
climber, Rolando Larcher, on his second trip.
The four hoped to climb a predominantly free
route on Cota 2000 and spotted a beautiful
line left of the central pillar. They began
climbing in capsule style on the 21st January
and spent five nights on the wall, out of which
two nights and one day were spent pinned
down in a storm, literally swimming in their
portaledges. This was a little ironic, as they
had been forced to haul 40 litres of water up
the route because the wall has no ledges, and
therefore no snow to melt. The storm also
produced some spectacular lightning, a real
rarity in Patagonia. After 16 pitches, some of
them 65m in length, the route finished on the
flat summit ridge.
Leoni notes that although nine pitches
required some aid, the overall amount was just
a drop in the ocean: most of the climbing was
free. A roof on the third pitch (A2 and 6b) is the
only place where four bolts were drilled in
succession. Otherwise, one bolt was used to
surmount a dangerous flake on pitch 14 and
two were placed on each belay. Fortunately, the
rock was nearly always fantastic quality,
allowing some superb sustained free climbing,
particularly on the crux 10th pitch – the
Changing Dihedral – where a long sequence of
hard moves across an overhanging section link
two crack systems. Leoni likens the formation
in many ways to El Capitan
The new route, Osa, ma non Troppo, has
700m of climbing and difficulties of 7b, 7a obl
and A3, giving some of the hardest pure free
climbing achieved in the Paine, and only
surpassed by routes such as the legendary
Riders on the Storm (Kurt Albert/Bernd
Arnold/Norbert Bätz/Peter Dittrich/Wolfgang
Güllich, 1991: 1,300m: 36 pitches: 7c and A3:
all but Bätz reached the summit) on the East
Face of the Central Tower.
Cerro Cota 2000 lies just south of Cerro
Catedral (2,200m) in the Valle del Francés and
has an altitude of (surprise!) around 2,000m. It
is believed to have been first climbed (from
the west) in 1971 by Chileans Gaston Oyarzun
and Carlos Sepulveda. In 1993 Italians,
Roberto Canzan, Svaluto Moreolo, Renato
Pancierre, Alessandro Raccamello and Mauro
Patagonia veteran Fabio Leoni nearing the top of Osa, ma non Troppo (7b, 7a obl and A3) on the East Face of Cerro Cota
2000. SPEDIZONE COTA 2000
Valmassoi sieged a line towards the right side
of the broad but sheer East Face to reach the
summit ridge after 500m of 6b and A3. The
shale band below the summit was not
climbed. Three years later Gardner Heaton
and Joe Reichert, at first assisted by Eli
Helmuth, attempted the central pillar directly
below the summit. After climbing difficult aid,
they established a camp around 200m up the
East Face and then climbed capsule style to
the top, with a portaledge camp in a
prominent and curiously-shaped alcove high
on the wall that gave the route its name: The
Keyhole Route (Heaton/Reichert, 1997: 600m:
14 pitches: VI A4 5.10).
Hielo Patagonico Norte
Previously unreported from 2006 was the first
winter longitudinal crossing of the North
Patagonia Ice Cap. The three-man Chilean
team of Pablo Besser, Nicolás Von Graevenitz
and Francisco Urzua took 31 days to make the
130km traverse, starting in the north west via
an entry up the San Rafael Glacier (any entry
further north would require crossing over the
north flank of 3,910m San Valentin). Reaching
Laguna San Rafael by light aircraft in early
July, the team found the entry extremely
contorted and spent twice their estimated
time getting up onto the ice cap. They then
progressed south, past the east flanks of the
Cordon Aisen and the head of the Colonia
Glacier, and continued to the Steffen Glacier,
down which they travelled to exit from the
southernmost point of the ice cap on the 2nd
August at the Huemules River. They walked a
couple of days down river to the first village El Tortel - from where a boat transported
them to the coast. The last section of the
Steffen was so chaotic and difficult that the
team had to abandon much of their gear (skis
etc) in order to make it to the bottom.
Only a handful of expeditions have made
north to south crossings of the Hielo Norte,
the first in 1963-64 when Eduardo Garcia,
Miguel Gomez, Cedomir Marangunic and Eric
Shipton entered via the San Rafael and made
their exit via the Colonia Glacier and Lago
Colonia to the south east. The first complete
north to south crossing is attributed to a fourman team led by Ilario Previtali, who first
made the 12th ascent of San Valentin and then
completed the traverse, exiting via the Steffen,
in 26 days, finishing on the 25th March. The
recent Chilean winter traverse is only the fifth
complete crossing overall.
Besser is undoubtedly the Chilean guru of
the Patagonian ice caps. In 1998-99 he was
part of the team that made the first complete
north to south crossing of the Southern Ice
Cap. In 2004 he made the first winter ascent
of San Lorenzo (3,706m: the second highest
major peak in Patagonia), and in 2005 the first
winter ascent of Monte Balmaceda (2,035m) at
the southern end of the Hielo Sur. In 2007 he
made another major winter expedition to the
Hielo Norte, which will be reported next INFO.
INFO: Fabio Leoni/Anna Piunova and
www.mountain.ru/Arkadiy Seregin/Mike ‘Twid’
Turner and the reference sources of the
American Alpine Journal and Patagonia, Terra
Magica per Viaggiatori e Alpinisti.
MAY 08 81