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rolo
climber
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Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 18, 2014 - 12:45am PT
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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.
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TYeary
Social climber
State of decay
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Feb 18, 2014 - 12:51am PT
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Speechless.....Respect and wide eyed wonder!
TY
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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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Feb 18, 2014 - 12:53am PT
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Unreal. Makes my brain hurt just thinking about it.
Kudos to the both of them.
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
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Feb 18, 2014 - 12:57am PT
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i would need a chopper to do that,
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ryankelly
Trad climber
el portal
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Feb 18, 2014 - 01:01am PT
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strong work
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
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Feb 18, 2014 - 01:03am PT
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Impressive! Those are some fit dudes.
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Chief
climber
The NW edge of The Hudson Bay
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Feb 18, 2014 - 01:12am PT
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Jeez…I mean…gosh almighty….that's chimpressive!
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GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
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Feb 18, 2014 - 01:13am PT
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What the...
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bearbnz
Trad climber
East Side, California
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Feb 18, 2014 - 01:14am PT
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Absolutely amazing.
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nah000
climber
canuckistan
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Feb 18, 2014 - 01:26am PT
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impeccable... beautiful... proud... mindboggling... inspiring...
even superlative descriptions sound trite compared to what was actually accomplished...
congrats gents.
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Plaidman
Trad climber
South Slope of Mt. Tabor, Portland, Oregon, USA
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Feb 18, 2014 - 01:35am PT
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Wow ! X 10. Nice job guys.
Plaid
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wayne w
Trad climber
the nw
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Feb 18, 2014 - 01:48am PT
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I love the line from Rolo's report;
'This was Honnold's first climb in Patagonia.'
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SCseagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Feb 18, 2014 - 02:02am PT
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Uh uh? Aliens....not of this earth...
Susan
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weezy
climber
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Feb 18, 2014 - 02:07am PT
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looks like a fun route :)
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enjoimx
Trad climber
SLO
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Feb 18, 2014 - 02:12am PT
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This is amazing!! Thank you for reporting Rolo! Soo sick
Edit: so THIS is what they mean by "The New Alpinism" !!!
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Jaysen
Trad climber
NY
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Feb 18, 2014 - 02:22am PT
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seriously....
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Fletcher
Gym climber
A very quiet place
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Feb 18, 2014 - 02:28am PT
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Holy shite on multiple levels! Hats off to those gents! Needs to scrape my jaw off the ground.
Eric
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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA/Boulder, CO
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Feb 18, 2014 - 02:37am PT
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Wow! Simply Amazing! They must have some really killer approach shoes :-)
Not to criticize their achievement, but in looking at Rolo's photo it looks like there is a pinnacle/summit just right of Fitzroy that didn't appear to have been climbed. Is that just something misleading in the photo?
Again, before people start jumping on me for downplaying this incredible accomplishment I am just asking for a clarification given what's on Rolo's photo.
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bigbird
climber
WA
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Feb 18, 2014 - 02:42am PT
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I away thought the full traverse of the Torres del Paine mastiff in patagonia or the Arwa group in india was the "mother of all traverses"... Guess it a subjective opinion...
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enjoimx
Trad climber
SLO
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Feb 18, 2014 - 02:47am PT
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I thought Mathes Crest was the mother of all traverses. Relative indeed
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