rolo



climber Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 18, 2014 - 12:45am PT From the lowest of lows: Chad Kellogg's recent death on the Supercanaleta, to the highest of highs: the mother of all traverses...



Between the 12th and 16th of February, Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold completed the first ascent of the much discussed "Fitz Traverse", climbing across the iconic ridge-line of Cerro Fitz Roy and its satellite peaks in southern Patagonia.



This ridge-line involves climbing Aguja Guillaumet, Aguja Mermoz, Cerro Fitz Roy, Aguja Poincenot, Aguja Rafael Juárez, Aguja Saint-Exúpery and Aguja de l'S.



In all they climbed across over five kilometers of ridge line, covering close to 4000 meters of vertical gain with difficulties to 7a (5.11d) C1 65 degrees. They simul-climbed much of the climb, dispatching 20-pitch sections such as Pilar Goretta in a mere three pitches.



They started at 9:45AM on the 12th climbing the Brenner-Moschioni route in two pitches to reach the summit of Aguja Guillaumet by 12:15PM. They continued south, along the Cresta Sur to reach Aguja Mermoz, climbing the Argentina route to reach the summit by 5PM. Four hours later they decided to stop to bivy, placing their tent in the ridge leading to Aguja Val Biois.



On the 13th they started at 8:30AM, climbing past Aguja Val Biois to reach the col at the base of Pilar Goretta at 11:30AM. In three pitches they climbed the Casarotto route with the Kearney-Knight variation to reach the summit of the pillar and start up the final headwall at 7:45PM. Finding terrible conditions in the upper headwall, with way too much rime and ice in the cracks, they were forced to slow down, reaching the summit of Cerro Fitz Roy at 2:30AM.



On the morning of the 14th, after a short night just below the summit they rappelled the Franco-Argentina reaching La Silla at 12:45PM and weaving their way through the various summits of Aguja Kakito to reach the base of the Potter-Davis route on Aguja Poincenot by 6PM. Short-fixing they made quick work of it, reaching the summit by 9:15PM.



On the morning of the 15th they rappelled Judgment Day to reach the Col SUSAT by 11:30AM. At noon they started up the Piola-Anker route on Aguja Rafael Juárez, climbing it in two pitches to reach the summit at 2:15PM. By 4:30PM they had traversed the ridge to Aguja Saint-Exúpery and by 6:20PM they were in the summit, having climbed it in a mere two pitches.



By this point their rope was reduced to 38 meters in length so they made an endless number of rappels down the Austríaca to reach the Col de los Austríacos, setting camp for the night in the boulderfield at the base of the final climb, the north ridge of Aguja de l'S.



In the morning of the 16th they climbed that final section, doing a single pitch to reach the summit by 8:50AM, descending east to reach the glacier just after 10AM.



On this epic adventure they took:

two backpacks (35 and 25 liters)

one sleeping bag

a BD First Light tent

a stove and three gas canisters

one ice tool

two pairs of aluminum crampons

one ice-screw

2 each Camalots to #2

1 Camalot #3

two sets of Stoppers

a 60m 9.8mm lead line

an 80m 6mm tag line

three ascenders/locking pulleys (Petzl Micro-traxion, Kong Duck and Futura)

6 quick-draws

14 slings



It should be noted that their success was in spite of very bad conditions, with much ice and snow in the cracks and on the ridges courtesy of one of the wettest summer seasons in many years.



Caldwell and Honnold wore rockshoes to climb Pilar Goretta and the north face of Aguja Poincenot but climbed everything else wearing approach shoes (!!).



This was Honnold's first climb in Patagonia Over the years Caldwell has done a number of impressive ascents in the area, most notably the first free and onsight ascent of Linea de Eleganza on Cerro Fitz Roy.



Respect, respect and more respect.





