It was one of the most notorious episodes in post-war mountaineering, decried as the "murder of the impossible" and the "rape and desecration" of one of the world's most beautiful rock spires: Cerro Torre in Patagonia.

In 1970, the Italian alpinist Cesare Maestri was condemned for placing more than 400 bolts up the mountain's south-east ridge. He used the bolts as ladders to ascend the 3,128-metre peak on the southern Patagonia icefield.

Now two young North American climbers have removed many of the bolts, effectively erasing Maestri's route after completing the first so-called "fair means" ascent of the wall in January. Their actions triggered a bitter exchange of recriminations, not least between North American and Italian Alpinists, who lined up on either side of the debate.

Hayden Kennedy, a 21-year-old American, and a Canadian, Jason Kruk, 24, were detained – albeit briefly – by Argentinian police in El Chaltén, where the removed bolts were confiscated.

They were also accused of "Taliban-like" tactics in an article endorsed by leading Italian climbers, who said they had destroyed a piece of mountaineering history.

Compressor route on Cerro Torre Graphic by the Guardian

Maestri first claimed to have climbed the mountain in 1959 with the Austrian guide Toni Egger, who died during the climb. Over time, mountaineers began to question whether Maestri had really reached the summit. He was so angry that he returned in 1970 to fix thousands of metres of rope in place, then used the rope to drag a compressor to bolt his way up the face, avoiding natural fissures that could have been climbed more conventionally.

Reinhold Messner, the first man to climb all 14 Himalayan peaks over 8,000 metres, was among critics calling the ascent the "murder of the impossible".

Although the "Compressor Route" – as it became known – became the standard way to climb the mountain, in recent years there had been debate about whether the bolts should be removed.

In a statement, Kennedy and Kruk – who climbed the route in 13 hours – said they decided to remove the Maestri line only on arriving at the summit after clipping in just five bolts.

"There had been a lot of talk over the years about chopping the compressor bolts. Undoubtedly, it is a lot easier to talk about it than to actually do it and deal with the consequences. After a lengthy introspection on the summit, we knew the act needed to be initiated by one party, without consensus.

"Reasonable use of bolts has been a long-accepted practice in this mountain range. Often, steep, blank granite would be folly without the sparing using of this type of protection … Five bolts for 400 seemed like a pretty good trade to us. Our ultimate goal was respect for the mountain …

"The question that remains is why? Maestri's actions were a complete atrocity. His use of bolts and heavy machinery was outrageous, even for the time. He stole [his] climb from the future."

While many have applauded their actions, one of the most trenchant criticisms has come from Stefano Lovison in an article that lists the support of dozens of leading Italian climbers. He said Kruk and Kennedy's "militant and arrogant" actions were "the result of a unilateral decision and of a concept of mountaineering which lacks respect for those of the past. Furthermore, this concept clearly lacks the ability to place past climbs (or attempts) into their proper context, in relation to the prevailing conditions, to the equipment available at the time and to the isolation of those places in the Maestri era.

"By chopping the vast majority of bolts (Kruk and Kennedy arrogated the right to determine a degree of purity) one deliberately wanted to eliminate a part of history, as if Maestri were a detestable and bloodthirsty dictator, and as if his route were a monument to him and not merely the traces of man's gruelling efforts up a mountain."

In a final irony, perhaps, days after Kruk and Kennedy's ascent, the face was climbed completely free – without the use of bolts – by the Austrian climbers David Lama and Peter Ortner. They closely followed the old Maestri route, from where the bolts had been removed, proving the face is climbable using the purist ethics. Lama described his ascent as the greatest adventure of his life.

• This article was amended on 17 February 2012. The original said Hayden Kennedy and Jason Kruk were detained by Chilean police. This has been corrected.