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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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The name says it all- The Compressor Route. That's the man's legacy and I refuse to see him as a victim of anything but his ego. Accepting that he did succeed doesn't really even lessen the disgrace done to the Torre and the rest of the climbing community.
What did you get for it??? Faust's little gambit...
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Double D
climber
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"that wouldn't explain the complete absence of rap anchors"
Ice bollards?
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Jeff, you have a point about icing, that wouldn't explain the . . . false description of the climbing."
Yeah, that's the dagger. And the photos underscore the point.
Apologists could always say that M/E found unusual conditions, that maybe they downclimbed instead of rapping, or there was a once-in-a-lifetime blob that they could bollard, but even those longshot scenarios don't get out from under the fact that subsequent ascentionists found a rock landscape radically different from that described by M, and the really killing detail is that ledge system.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 5, 2009 - 11:42am PT
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Double D, I have been climbing in Patagonia for 35 years. I have seen possibly one occasion when icing (might) allow for an ascent to the col- and that would be unlikely. I have never seen an instance where the icing was substantial enough for ice bollards. Then, there is the problem of Maestri's erroneous description of the climbing. Keep in mind that we are talking about the possibility of Maestri getting to the Col of Conquest. There is also that small issue of getting from the col to the summit- see Rolo Garibotti. By the way, Maestri said that he and Egger found a 60 degree ice passage from the col to the summit. Subsequent exploration of CT has shown that such a passage does not exist.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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it's a beautiful day in California, I'm home finishing up this phase of the 510 OW project (one more phase to go), and I'm slightly bumming that I'm not out climbing or walking with Debbie...
..but this sort of thread provides the primary stuff that makes SuperTopo a potentially significant contribution to climbing and climbers. No one will ever mine this site for the political/social debates that occur here, not ever.
But the record of climbing experience, opinions and observations regarding climbing that inform the community on its history, cannot be found elsewhere (I believe).
Thanks again to Jim for his writing, and taking the time to share it with us here!
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 5, 2009 - 11:54am PT
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Good points all. The weather has finally cleared and I am off to clip some bolts and then desert sandstone. I am glad that this post has generated so much thoughtful and divergent commentary. I have expressed my ideas and will leave any further commentary to others.
Ciao
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Not a trace of an anchor above the last cache is very defining. This has never felt like a Mallory/Irvine sort of drama and more like the Annapurna controversey where success is raised above all in the interests of national pride and individual prestige. Into the void, created by marginalizing and dissing Bonatti, slipped Maestri...clear enough.
Being above failure and any sense of humility is the core tragedy.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Perhaps Maestri's biggest mistake was going back with the compressor. If he hadn't done that, you'd think people would have been more accepting of his FA claim.
"No spinning"?! Man, I know someone who would be very disappointed to hear that...
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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This has been interesting. I think the jury has agreed but, like Jim, I too was a good Catholic boy once.
To me the most damning evidence is the lack of a photo of any sorts. Somebody of that ego doesn't leave home without it and I've never seen conditions where you can't fire off something.
Heck, even that Cook guy got a shot of the 'summit' of Denali.
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
Sprocketville
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If I wasn't there, it didn't happen, regardless.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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WOW!!!
That interview is remarkable.
Hopefully a lesson to all. The same extraordinary drive to accomplishment that motivates successful heroes can have a dark side.
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GDavis
Trad climber
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Torre Egger on top of K2? C'mon now, the Russkies would find a way...
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yo
climber
I drink your milkshake!
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Wow, no joke.
[Maestri reels off a string of obscenities.] But I don't give a [expletive] about all this. It has already been covered, goddamn it to hell! You can't understand.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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The American Alpine Journal 2004 has a 7800 word study by Garibotti titled:
"A Mountain Unveiled: A revealing analysis of Cerro Torre's Tallest Tale"
members can access it online, I suspect. I can't but would love to see a copy here. It is apparently the most exhaustive study of the issue. Garibotti is a linguist and scholar of Patagonian history as well. His article examines English, Italian, French and Spanish references as well.
Maestri say in the guardian article that KLK cites: (http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2006/may/07/features.sport5);
'I don't have to explain anything; I don't owe anything to anyone. They can invent what they want - pitons, no pitons, I couldn't care less. What I did was the most important endeavour in the world. I did it single-handedly. But this doesn't mean that I... that I reached the top, do you understand? Do I make myself clear?'
The overarching point is that he thinks, regardless of what actually got climbed, that whatever he did up there, it turned out to be "most important endeavour in the world" --- that he deserves this fame no matter what, and is tangentially admitting the factual problem of not actually having done these climbs. How quaint and primitive.
More of this article:
"Maestri has often said that he wished he died on Cerro Torre and talks about the pleasure he would feel if the mountain were smashed to pieces, embracing the destruction of what he still claims as his greatest creation. He has also repeatedly told journalists that if they doubt him, they doubt the whole sport. Mountaineering, Maestri is saying, lives or dies with his reputation."
"In Pinzolo, Alessandro Beltrami, Salvaterra's young partner from Cerro Torre, arrives with his girlfriend. Where Salvaterra is restless and edgy, Beltrami is gentle and modest. He is full of doubts about Maestri's climb but had told Salvaterra that he should lay off the old man. In Italy, what happens on the surface is often more important than the reality beneath. Now, however, he hopes Maestri will lay the burden of Cerro Torre to rest."
"Salvaterra shows us a letter he sent to Maestri recently, asking him to tell the truth. Maestri had scrawled on the envelope that he didn't want to read its contents and was returning it unread. But it is also quite obvious that the envelope has been opened and then stuck back down again."
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Fabulous, Michael! Thanks!! Your link worked as did some more reading I wanted to do in old AAJ's. Another huge reason to support the AAC. I was a member back in the early 1970's but got terrifically bored and did not renew back then. This site is quite a bit more useful to members and nonmembers than I thought at first glance recently.
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Anastasia
climber
Not here
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Eyes wide open in wonderment and awe...
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Anie, your eyes are always wide open in awe and wonderment. hugs
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Another Leo Dickinson photo burned into our imaginations.
Ascent 1973
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