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norm larson
climber
wilson, wyoming
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Carlo Mauri's team did the first ascent of the West face in 74. Up the Tunnel valley over Paso del Viento to the icecap to reach it. Funny how little is known of this first ascent of Cerro Torre. Someone should research it and write it up.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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The leader of the Lecco Spiders team was Casimiro Ferrari. He fell in love with Patagonia and bought an estancia on the eastern shore of Lago Viedma from which he had a view of Fitzroy and the Torres. He fell ill with cancer and moved back to Italy for treatment where he died at the age of 62.
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D-Rail
Trad climber
Calaveras
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What an awesome climb... I have seen that photo of Jim triumphant on the summit many times, but it is great to hear the details of how it all came together for them. The fall while rappelling sounds like it might have been one of nine lives... Is the ice pitch Brewer talks about leading to avoid the initial bolt ladder still used?
Thanks for the great stories Steve.
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shipoopoi
Big Wall climber
oakland
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i saw bird's slideshow on this when it was still fresh in his head at the brazilian room in berkeley when i was a youngster. i remember him saying that all the climbs he had ever done, including the moose's tooth, lead up to this most excellent send. the slideshow was completely enGROSSing. shipoopoi
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 10, 2009 - 12:01am PT
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Need a little color...
Ascent 73.
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slabbo
Trad climber
fort garland, colo
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Dec 10, 2009 - 10:57am PT
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Damn Steve, I have that issue as well. Must have stolen it from Al Rubin !
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 5, 2010 - 08:31pm PT
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Big frosty Bird Bump!
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Gagner
climber
Boulder
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One of the most horrendous descents I have done is after Scott Cole, Walt Shipley and I did the Compressor route in '87. We bivied once on the route, before the start of the 50 meter traverse, sitting up in bivy sacks (no sleeping bags, except for Walt)on a small ledge we chopped out of the ice. The next morning we were frigid, so got going early, but you could already see the weather changing. We topped out in a full on gale, which luckily comes from the other side of the mountain. All I remember is saying, let's get the F*** out of here. Of course the wind eddies around the peak. We topped out at about 5:30pm and immediately started rapping. Between the wind, darkness, and traversing nature of the route it was a horrendous descent. We hung the ropes probably three times and had to re-climb back up to free it. Rapping with the ends in our jackets to try to keep them from getting hung up. I wore the front points on my Footfangs down to nothing. We got back to the Col around 9:30 in the morning - bivied for about an hour then kept going before the full brunt of the storm hit. I swear though, walking back on the dry glaciers there with heavy packs and trying to compensate for the wind is almost equally difficult.
Paul
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guest
climber
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a couple of people asked for clarification as to who did the FA of Cerro Torre. Indeed it was the Lecco Spiders team, led by the great Casimiro Ferrari, via the West Face in 1974. This route gets called various names -- the West Face, the Ferrari Route, and the Ragni di Lecco route (guess that's Italian for "Lecco Spiders"). Anyway, those guys were the first to stand on Cerro Torre's summit: Daniele Chiappa, Mario Conti, Casimiro Ferrari, and Pino Negri. Amazing route, and even more amazing effort considering the day and the seemingly impossible notion of climbing such an inhospitable spire.
-- Kelly Cordes (don't know how to change my user name from "guest")
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David Wilson
climber
CA
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Jan 20, 2010 - 08:57pm PT
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we stowed a rope at the italian col on fitzroy in 1985. i mean we stowed a rope, it was down in the rocks, carefully shoved between rocks into a totally protected position. we retreated shortly thereafter due to weather. on our return that rope was gone - no sign. the clear message was the winds of patagonia are limited only by imagination - a sentiment that colored our whole trip thereafter.
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hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
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Jan 20, 2010 - 09:52pm PT
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Armchair memory time. I think I remember reading that it was John Bachar and Mike Graham. When they got down there Bridwell was prepared for the bad weather- He had supposedly brought a huge supply of LSD to compensate for the boredom. I thought that that freaked the other two out and they left.
I'm not sure if this was a campfire story or if I read it somewhere FWIW
Regardless, it is a great adventure story.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Jan 20, 2010 - 11:08pm PT
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"I followed desperately, then resumed leading on ice, keeping one piece of protection between us as we moved together. Jim had never climbed steep ice but there was no time for lessons."
Too funny! What a great send.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 18, 2010 - 12:45pm PT
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Brewer Bump!
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rolo
climber
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Somewhat unrelated to this thread, but the very route that Jim and Steve finished back in 79 just recently got a facelift, the bad kind. In spite of spending close to three months in Chalten, the much publicized free attempt on the Compressor route by David Lama had no positive results (two attempts to the bolt traverse). However it did have some negative results. Lama's film team fixed 700 meters of rope from the glacier to the bolt traverse. The ropes were left for months until three Argentine guides recovered them, although they had to abandon a haul bag full of them above the bergschrund. The worst of it all was that to place those 700 meters of rope the film team placed more than 60 bolts. This in an section of the climb where not even Maestri had placed a single bolt back in 71, and where natural protection abounds. Somehow the 450 bolts that are already on the route were not sufficient for Lama's film team crew.
In 1985 Fulvio Mariani made one of the best climbing movies of all time when he filmed “Cumbre”, documenting Marco Pedrini’s solo ascent of Cerro Torre. They did so fixing 3 ropes, and nothing more, without placing a single piece of fixed pro. Obviously, as Lama and his entourage prove, there has been a big regression since then.
One has to wonder what the Swiss or the French would say if the same was done in one of their most iconic peaks in the Alps by a team of foreigners.
cheers
rolo
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philo
Trad climber
Somewhere halfway over the rainbow
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Rolo, it's been a while, how are you? Thanks for bringing this travesty to our attention. I for one am disturbed by the resurgence of the Machievellian mind set in "modern" climbers.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Rolo it's a damn shame that "modern hype climbing" is alive and well. What good is freeing Cerro Torre if the tactics are so reminiscent of the Maestri fiasco? Too many climbers, mostly Euros, are treating this magnificent region like it is a local sport climbing area. Needless bolts are being placed to "comfortize" routes and ropes are being fixed so that moves can be worked out. Perhaps Messner's timeless article "The Murder of the Impossible" should be required reading for aspirant alpinists.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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It's interesting that in Patagonia the quest to "free climb" has led to an excessive use of bolts and fixed ropes. Lama's debacle and routes by Kurt Albert, Arnold (Royal Flush) and others stand out.
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