| Cerro Torre | |
|---|---|
Cerro Torre in 1987 |
|
| Elevation | 3,128 m (10,262 ft) |
| Prominence | 1,227 m (4,026 ft) [1] |
| Location | |
|
Cerro Torre
|
|
| Location | Patagonia, Argentina, Chile (disputed)[2] |
| Range | Andes |
| Climbing | |
| First ascent | Disputed (see text) |
| Easiest route | rock/snow/ice |
Cerro Torre is one of the mountains of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field in South America. It is located in a region which is disputed between Argentina and Chile,[2] west of Cerro Chalten (also known as Fitz Roy). The peak is the highest in a four mountain chain: the other peaks are Torre Egger (2,685 m),[3] Punta Herron, and Cerro Stanhardt. The top of the mountain often has a mushroom of rime ice, formed by the constant strong winds, increasing the difficulty of reaching the actual summit.
Contents |
Cesare Maestri claimed in 1959 that he and Toni Egger had reached the summit and that Egger had been swept to his death by an avalanche while they were descending. Inconsistencies in Maestri's account, and the lack of bolts, pitons or fixed ropes on the route, has led most mountaineers to doubt Maestri's claim.[4] In 2005, Ermanno Salvaterra, Rolando Garibotti and Alessandro Beltrami, after many attempts by world-class Alpinists, put up a confirmed route on the face that Maestri claimed to have climbed.[5][6]
Maestri went back to climb again Cerro Torre in 1970 together with Ezio Alimonta, Daniele Angeli, Claudio Baldessarri, Carlo Claus and Pietro Vidi, trying a new route on the southeast face. With the aid of a gas-powered compressor drill, Maestri equipped 350 m of rock with bolts and got to the end of the rocky part of the mountain, just below the ice mushroom.[7] Maestri claimed that "the mushroom is not part of the mountain" and did not continue to the summit. The compressor was left, tied to the last bolts, 100 m below the top. The route Maestri followed is now famous as the Compressor route and was climbed again all the way to the summit in 1979 by Jim Bridwell and Steve Brewer.[8] Most parties on the route consider the ascent complete only if they summit the ice-rime mushroom to the top.
The first undisputed ascent was made by the 1974 Italian expedition composed by Daniele Chiappa, Mario Conti, Casimiro Ferrari, and Pino Negri.[5]
In 1977, the first Alpine style ascent was completed by Dave Carman, John Bragg and Jay Wilson of the USA. They took a week to summit Cerro Torre, which had taken the Italian group two months to summit.[5]
In January 2008, Rolando Garibotti and Colin Haley made the first complete traverse of the entire massif, climbing Aguja Standhardt, Punta Herron, Torre Egger and Cerro Torre together. They rate their route at Grade VI 5.11 A1 WI6 Mushroom Ice 6, with 2,200 m (7,200 ft) total vertical gain. This had been "one of the world's most iconic, unclimbed lines", first attempted by Ermanno Salvaterra.[9]
In 2010, Austrian Climber David Lama was responsible for a further 60 bolts and 700m of fixed rope added to the Compressor Route on the mountain.[10] Whilst the bolts were drilled by Austrian guide, Heli Putz,[11] and not by Lama himself, it was done as part of his trip sponsored by Red Bull and many climbers regard Lama and Red Bull as responsible. Many of the bolts were drilled next to cracks, which are usually used by climbers for protection on the route.[12] This has caused a large amount of controversy amongst certain climbers' circles, as his actions are regarded as unethical according to climbing purists.
Cerro Torre was featured in the 1991 film Scream of Stone, directed by Werner Herzog and starring Vittorio Mezzogiorno, Hans Kammerlander, and Donald Sutherland.
Jon Krakauer, in Into Thin Air, mentions the mountain as one of his earlier difficult ascents (1992): "I'd scaled a frightening, mile-high spike of vertical and overhanging granite called Cerro Torre; buffeted by hundred-knot winds, plastered with frangible atmospheric rime, it was once (though no longer) thought to be the world's hardest mountain".[17]
