Climbing information about cerro Torre Patagonia Argentina

""Cuadernos Patagonicos"
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The Cerro Torre
It is called the tower for its sharp spires and subtle silhouette. It is perhaps the most well known mountain of the southern Patagonian range. The magnificent mountain is composed of four granite needles that form a complex of rare beauty and harmony. The Adela chain is situated on the eastern limit of the continental Ice near 49 degrees 20 latitude. A valley that follows the course of the Vueltas river is formed between the slope of the Argentinian chain. Facing the peaks from the east is Cerro Torre, Egger Tower, Herron point and Mount Standhart. The Fitz Roy chain and its satellites are found nearby. Occupying the head of the valley is the Torre glacier whose waters along with the Fitz roy river form lake Torre. The western and southern slopes of Cerro Torre are mainly rocky. The granite walls of the glacier are over 1300 meters high. The western slope is the most exposed to the storms and is therefore completely encrusted with ice. This without a doubt is one of the wildest and most remote corners of Patagonia. Even the easiest routes are always wrapped in clouds. The northern side is the most well known and climbed portion. It extends from the fork formed between the Tower and Egger and goes towards the west over the Continental Ice. This is probably the most dangerous side and is subjected to repeated storms and ice. It is against this side that the historical conquests of the magnificent summit were launched.
The First Attempts
The descriptions of all that had been seen were very encouraging. Alberto María De Agostina speaks of it as a graceful needle with ¨formidable vertical granite towers over the glacier.¨ Hector Castiglioni, a member of the first expedition that attempted to climb the Fitz Roy said that ¨some of them gave the most frightening impression of absolute inaccessibility, even to those like myself accustomed to imagining the hypothetical possibility of every mountain and every side.¨ These qualifications and the idea in the world of mountaineering that the summit of Cerro Torre was impossible was what unleashed the first attempts. In 1957 the expeditions converged on the Tower and the summit was in the scope of the best Italian Climbers of the time. One man Cesare Maestri looked for a route along the west side but was unable to reach the summit. On the opposite side battling the eastern wall was a group of renowned alpinists including Walter Bonatti and Carlo Maun. The mountain had won the first round and defeated all of the climbers. Maestri and Maun however would return to the mountain as rivals to conquer the myth and try to achieve the victory that they were denied in 1957.

The Victory and the Enigma
With incredible economic forces Maestri successfully organized a new expedition in the summer of 1958-59. Also came the news that the best climber of the moment would join the expedition, Toni Egger of Austria.
Between the brief periods of good weather and the longer periods of bad weather, Fava, Egger and Maestri reached the smaller tower. On January 28, 1959 during a spell of favorable weather they decided to leave.
In that afternoon the pass between the Tower and Egger was baptized the Passage of Conquest. In the pass Fava abandoned the group and descended to the base.
¨We climbed until the above the northeast crest was visible. Above us was the north tower. Frozen plates, pipes and fissures gave us the impression that this was provisional. Toni looked at me, I called, it was like this that the premier attempt started.... Toni appeared to fly above the crest and every step resounded the emptiness of the place. Sometimes the crampons barely punctured the hard snow, others they sank all the way.¨
The ascensiones proceeded over the same terrain with the same uncertainty and difficulty of past expeditions. With icy overhangs, vertical spires, snowy crests and crumbling cornices. The zigzagging continued until the end of the afternoon.
In the morning while the clouds increase, they found the ¨route to the summit¨but the weather tuned against them. ¨Toni left and climbed an almost vertical spire. He climbed putting one fastener over the other. Later I climbed and left the tools in the wall. Here Toni passed an overhanging of ice and yelled `Cesare, the summit¨.¨
This was the beginning point of the true run for the summit and its inhospitable world.
The Run for Cerro Torre
The descent was strange: they rappelled the unsecure route. To fasten required 30 to 40 minutes each time to break through the granite. The fifth bivouac was on the the plane of one wall and the next day Egger and Maestri reached the base of the passage of Conquest. While descending the beginning of the fixed rope an enormous avalanche was unleashed from the East side. Toni Egger was pulled from the rock and his body disappeared into the glaciar. Cesare Maestri was spared and returned alive, but with the weight of the tragedy. Worsened by the suspicion and doubt among other climbers that the ascension was not completed. The Anglosaxons were the first to hypothesize that the summit had not been reached by Egger and Maestri.

On the other hand there was documentation that supported and contradicted the feat and to know is impossible. Egger was dead and the camera equipment and proof he carried lost. The case is still open today and will never be resolved. Afterwards Maestri returned to Italy and there many other alpinists insinuated that he had lied.
Vengeance, Tremendous Vengeance
Perhaps justified, with his pride hurt and bitterness, he decided on an original and crazy response to give his detractors. To return to the summit by a new route and go by any means available. In 1970 the expedition Campiglio 70 with the goal to reach the summit left for the southeast side during the winter. The members included Cesare Maestri, Carlo Claus, Ezio Alimonta, Pietro Vidi, Renato Valentini and his loyal friend and chief of the expedition, Cesarino Fava.
Whatever means necessary were used regardless of cost. They created the first double mountain boots constructed of plastic. Considered crazy in that time the boots were revolutionary and are used today. Equally revolutionary were the padded clothing stitched with aluminum that helped maintain interior body heat.
To support the run that would require many days of inactivity, Maestri conceived the idea of constructing a small prefabricated camp and leaving it at the foot of the tower. The Air Force of Argentina transported the materials free of charge thanks to Agip Petroli.
The compressor
Maestri wrote a proposition: Ï need to find a machine that will permit me to break through the rock faster and it should be of compressed air. Here in front of the director of Atlas Copeo was Doctor Lai...ä drilling each twenty seconds.¨ Dr. Lai and his technicians should be embraced for crafting my machine that will pierce a block of granite¨air is expelled automatically and the point enters like a finger leaving a beautiful round hole. It has only one small defect:the compressor weighs 150 - 180 kilos.¨ The weather conditions are always bad with notable intensity and amounts of snow and forced the expedition to return. Maestri was not defeated and thought to return in the summer to achieve the remaining 400 meters. The compressor laid waiting for 3 months, but during the first test functioned well. The climb restarted on December 2, 1970 and the three reached the summit. During the descent of Maestri 20 of the fasteners failed on the summit wall and were then permanently fixed with the compressor like a record of his climb. The Cerro Torre had been defeated. Now his detractors are unable to say that Maestri had not reached the summit: now there are pictures and testimonials.

The ¨Lequeses¨and the Americans
In 1974 the climbers of Lecco, guided by Casimmiro Ferrari returned for an attempt at the west wall. The four that arrived at the top were Casimiro Ferrari, Mario Conti, Pine Negri and Daniel Chiappa after battling extreme difficulties with the ice. The enterprise was praised in an article in the English magazine Alpine Journal. In some circles this is considered the true ascension of Cerro Torre. Given the doubts about the 1959 expedition and there even remain some doubts about the 1970 expedition. The ascension of the ¨Lequeses¨opened the road to a series of feats, each mor audacious.
The East Wind and the Weak Sex
There remained two large challenges, a direct ascent of the east wall and the south side. Problems of such magnitude required tough, driven, and climbers not only motivated by fame and glory. These came from Eastern Europe and precisely Slovenia, former Yugoslavia. In 1986 an expedition composed of Matjaz Fistravee, Silvo Karo, Franc Knuz, Pavle Kozjek, Janez Jeglic and Peter Podgornik launched an assault on the east wall. The climb started on December 12 and ended January 16. They carried 31 lengths of rope and of the 35 days, only 14 presented good weather. Nevertheless they continued, in spite of the large risks of a route that was exposed to falling ice and rock. The direct route had thus become the most difficult route in Patagonia and certainly one of the most difficult in the world. The maximum difficulties were listed at between 8 degrees and A4. With their knowledge of the Patagonia and confidence they then challenged the south wall solo. A vertical wall plagued with continuous discharges of ice and rock. They started November 6 and concluded January 20 through violent storms that at times would not allow them to set up camp. With this last moment of suspense and a happy end completes the largest enterprises of Cerro Torre. The only hit on that was shortly after when a german Matthis Pinn with two companions completed the first parapente of the most difficult mountain in the world.