Alpinist

In 1952, after making the first ascent of Cerro Fitz Roy, Frenchman Lionel Terray described the nearby Cerro Torre as "an impossible mountain," a phrase that described well the ice-capped, mile-high granite needle. In early 1968 an Anglo-Argentine team composed of Martin Boysen, Mick Burke, Pete Crew, Jose Luis Fonrouge and Dougal Haston attempted the southeast ridge of Cerro Torre, managing to climb 450 meters above the Col of Patience without placing any bolts. In December of 1970 Italians Ezio Alimonta, Carlo Claus and Cesare Maestri climbed to within 60 meters of the summit, turning around while still on vertical ground, having placed upwards of 300 bolts with the help of a gas-powered air compressor. Courtesy of the use of the compressor, the "impossible mountain" was no more. In January of 1979 Americans Jim Bridwell and Steve Brewer completed Alimonta, Claus and Maestri's near miss, finishing the so-called Compressor Route. In January of 2012 American Hayden Kennedy and Canadian Jason Kruk climbed the southeast ridge without using any of Maestri's bolts for protection and during the descent chopped 120 of his bolts. A few days later, David Lama and Peter Ortner free climbed the southeast ridge without using Maestris' bolts for protection.

We, some of the many climbers who have devoted much energy over the last decades to climbing in the Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre massifs, shaping the region's climbing history, are in full support of the bolt removal:

Jorge Ackermann, Tomy Aguilo, Conrad Anker, Bjorn-Eivind Artun, Trym Atle Saeland,

Scott Backes, Scott Bennett, Bjarte Bo, Carlos Botazzi, Martin Boysen, John Bragg, Ben Bransby, Chris Brazeau, Phil Burke, Tommy Caldwell, Ramiro Calvo, Ben Campbell- Kelly, Rab Carrington, Dave Carman, Robert Caspersen, Andy Cave, Yvon Chouinard, Carlos Comesana, Kelly Cordes, Inaki Coussirat, Pete Crew, Sebastian De la Cruz, Alejandro Di Paola, Leo Dickinson, Ben Ditto, Jim Donini, Martin Donovan, Dana Drummond, Magnus Eriksson, Gabriel Fava, Nico Favresse, Silvia Fitzpatrick, Ralf Gantzhorn, Rolando Garibotti, Stefan Gatt, Chris Geisler, Jon Gleason, Gustavo Glickman, Milena Gomez, Colin Haley, Brian Hall, Kennan Harvey, Jorge Insua, Peter Janschek, Hans Johnstone, Neil Kauffman, Joel Kauffman, Hayden Kennedy, Michael Kennedy, Andy Kirkpatrick, Jason Kruk, Ole Lied, Whit Magro, Klemen Mali, Carlitos Molina, Marius Morstad, Avo Naccachian, Fermin Olaechea, Marius Olsen, Ian Parnell, Luciano Pera, Korra Pesce, Doerte Pietron, Michal Pitelka, Kate Rutherford, Mikey Schaefer, Stephan Siegrist, Pedro Skvarca, Zack Smith, Bruno Sourzac, Rick Sylvester, Jim Toman, Doug Tompkins, Jvan Tresch, Roberto Treu, Sean Villanueva, Adam Wainwright, Eamon Walsh, Jon Walsh, Josh Wharton, Andres Zegers

We also support the removal of the Compressor Route bolts:

Vince Anderson, Chris Bonington, Mick Fowler, Steve House, Heinz Mariacher, Reinhold Messner, Paul Pritchard, Sonnie Trotter, Mark Twight

Note:

The many climbers in the first list have made important contributions to alpinism in the Chalten area including ascents such as the ones listed below. This list is meant to indicate their love for climbing in the Chalten Massif, their connection to the place, and a level of devotion that has helped shape its history. The ascents are in no particular order, and range from 1963 to 2012:

* The first attempts to climb Supercanaleta (1963 and 64), the first ascent of Supercanaleta (second ascent of Fitz Roy), the first ascent of the California route (third ascent of Fitz Roy), the first attempt on the southeast ridge of Cerro Torre, the second ascent of Cerro Torre, and an impressive near miss on the east and north faces of Cerro Torre;

* The first ascents of Aguja Guillaumet, Torre Egger, Cerro Piergiorgio, Volcan Lautaro, Aguja Mermoz, Aguja Rafael Juarez, Pollone East, Aguja Cuatro Dedos, Aguja Tito Carrasco, Aguja Volonqui, Marconi Central, and the second ascent of Poincenot;

*Eight new routes on Fitz Roy, two new routes on Torre Egger, two new routes on Standhardt, seven new routes on Poincenot, three new routes on Desmochada, six new routes on Saint Exupery, three new routes on Mermoz, eight new routes on Guillaumet, and new routes on Aguja Pollone, Domo Blanco, De la Silla, Aguja De l'S and Cuatro Dedos;

*The first Argentine ascents of Fitz Roy, Cerro Torre, Torre Egger, Aguja Standhardt, Punta Herron, Aguja Poincenot and the Ragni route on Cerro Torre;

*The first free ascents of Linea de Eleganza and of the Ferrari-Corazon combo, both on Fitz Roy's east face;

*The first complete ascent of El Tiempo Perdido to the Ragni route on Cerro Torre, the first ascent of the Corkscrew on Cerro Torre, the first ascent of the Torres Traverse, and the first ascent of El Arca de los Vientos on Cerro Torre;

*The first winter ascents of Fitz Roy, Torre Egger, Poincenot and Guillaumet, the first winter ascents of Vol de Nuit on Mermoz and the Ragni route on Cerro Torre.

*The first ascents of the Wave Effect, the Pollone Traverse, the North Pillar Sit Start, and the first to fourth ascents of the Care Bear Traverse;

*The second female ascent of Fitz Roy, the second female-team ascent of Fitz Roy, and the first female ascent of the Ragni route on Cerro Torre;

*The first ascent and solo of the East Face of Adela, the second solo ascent of Supercanaleta on Fitz Roy, the first solo ascent of Standhardt, the second and third solo ascents of Saint Exupery, the second and third solo ascents of Mermoz, and the first solo ascents of Aguja Rafael Juarez and Guillaumet.

Other notable contributions include spearheading the successful repeal of the climbing fee program that the National Park Administration (APN) attempted to pass in 2005; donating significant funds towards building the climber display in the Park's visitor centre; successfully repealing the motion by the Provincial Land Administration to pass to private control the area of Cerro Piergiorgio, Cerro Pollone and the north face of Fitz Roy; bringing to fruition a trail restoration project that involved donating 4400 man hours of work to the National Park; participating in a number of volunteer rescues; and creating a free online resource database of all mountaineering activity in the area.

Links to the Thoughts of:

Yvon Chouinard

Kelly Cordes

Sebastián De La Cruz

Rolando Garibotti

Colin Haley

Hayden Kennedy and Jason Kruk

Doug Tompkins

Quotes

Jorge Ackermann, "Now who had the right to take bolts out? The ones who climbed the route without using the bolts had the right to take them out and Jason and Hayden chose to do this and I respect their decision. They climbed the headwall beautifully and I applauded them for it, this is a huge accomplishment in the world of climbing. A bit more discretion would have helped to keep the scandal under wraps but now it is done. In the end though, it is Cerro Torre that we are talking about and it seems that it is a mountain that does not incite discretion."

Martin Boysen, "About time!"

Pete Crew, "It is time that the Maestri nonsense was knocked in the head once and for all."

Ben Campbell-Kelly, "What could be better than having an iconic mountain with only challenging routes to the top? No gimmicks and no via ferratas! It's exciting to see how the new generation is making its mark."

Leo Dickinson, "The compressor route on Cerro Torre should never have been in existence - nature did such a beautiful job at making Cerro Torre a world class mountain. The bolt route has been a scar on the history of mountaineering for too long.."

Reinhold Messner, "Maestri was free to put the bolts in 1970, Jason and Hayden were free to take the bolts out. Cesare demonstrated that CT was possible with the compressor, Jason and Hayden demonstrated that it was possible without. They have all my respect - for having liberated the Compressor route from the grips of conquest alpinism, a style that we should finally get over with."

Pedro Skvarca wrote, "Personally I believe that the bolts should have never been placed. I was never in agreement with Maestri's action, he made a grave mistake and breached the ethics of mountaineering."

Mark Twight , "Having grown up in the culture of climbing that I knew, and been mentored by the men who inspired and educated me, I never thought I would see the day that anyone would be 'against' chopping those bolts

Early in January, Kate Rutherford and Mikey Schaefer climbed a new route, Astro Choss, on the east face of Aguja Saint-Exupery (2558m). The ascent featured about 500m of new climbing.

Just to the south of Fitz Roy, St. Exupery was first climbed by Italians Gino Buscaini, Lino Condot, Silvia Metzeltin, Walter Romano and Silvano Sinigo via the east ridge (6a+ A1 45 degrees, 700m) in 1968. The only other complete route on the east face is Ural Path (5+ A2 65 degrees, 600m), put up by a group of seven Russians in 1996.

After retreating from the mountain due to rain, Rutherford and Schaefer returned under clear skies and sunshine. Recent rock fall littered their approach and more rocks rained down as they started their climb. Though the climbing began in the sun, after a few pitches the sun left the east face and they found running water and verglass. Deciding they didn't want to get wet that late in the day, the two did a sideways rappel across Condorito in search of dry rock.

As daylight faded, Schaefer aided the crumbly face in an attempt to avoid the choss-filled crack above them. After a few attempts, Schaefer eventually tied a #3 Camelot to the end of his ice axe, clipped several long slings to it, and face climbed as high as he could. Using his new tool, Schaefer reached as far as possible around a large block, and created an axe-cam hand hold, the climbing eventually reached good rock and Schaefer set a belay. At 3:30 a.m. the following day, the two reached the ridge and the Italian Route. Rutherford and Schaefer found a relatively flat spot and bivied. As the sun came out, they leisurely advanced up the ridge to the summit. Rutherford sums up Astro Choss with little excitement, "Sadly, I would not recommend repeating it. At least now we know it's not worth it. Maybe it would be better as a mixed ice line..."

Rutherford and Schaefer later learned that while they were summiting, Carlyle Norman, a Canadian climber, had been hit in the head with a rock and died just a few hundred feet below them. "A sadness now takes over," lamented Rutherford. "all I can think, is that if we had known... could we have helped? We were so close."

Sources: Kate Rutherford, pataclimb.com

It is with great sadness that we learned of the fatal accident of Bjørn-Eivind Årtun and Stein-Ivar Gravdal while attempting a new route on Kjerag in southwest Norway. As his ascent with Colin Haley on Mt. Foraker was nominated last year, we had the privilege to have Bjørn-Eivind with us in Chamonix and Courmayeur. A top alpinist, he was a very open, friendly and humble person. This year his impressive new route on Torre Egger with Ole Lied is one of the six nominated ascents. A detailed tribute will be posted on the Piolets d'Or website in a few days, and we will miss Bjørn-Eivind very much this March.

In the name of the Piolets d'Or organization,

Christian Trommsdorff

Press Release

For the twentieth edition of the Piolets d'Or, it took a month of reflection and debate for the jury, presided over by Alpinist Editor-in-Chief Michael Kennedy, to select the six routes that they have decided best illustrate exploratory alpinism at a high technical level in minimal style undertaken with consideration for the environment.

Chosen from a list of eighty-eight ascents completed in 2011 on the mountains across the globe, these six routes are testament to the skill and determination of the fifteen alpinists who endured often hostile climates in these little-known mountain ranges in isolated regions. The Indian Karakoram, Xuelian Feng, Kyrgyzstan, Patagonia, Gangotri-Garhwal, Charakusa... autonomy and a strong team spirit are paramount in these rarely visited high altitude areas.

The nominated alpinists will be with us in Courmayeur and Chamonix from March 21-24 to present their routes, meet the public and perhaps be awarded with a Piolet d'Or - honoring the most notable alpine style ascents of 2011.

Pik Pobeda (7439m), Kyrgyzstan

Pik Pobeda is the most northerly 7000-meter peak in the world. A high-altitude symbol for mountaineers on the Asian continent, its steep and exposed north face is 2500 meters high. Kazakhs Gennadiy Durov and Denis Urubko added a fourth route to the central and highest part of this face, below the summit. Dollar Rod is a committing and technical route undertaken in alpine style, a modern feat. Last November it was awarded the sixth Asian Piolets d'Or.

Saser Kangri II (7518m), India

Americans Mark Richey, Steve Swenson and Freddie Wilkinson's expedition to the Indian Karakoram is another example from 2011 of exploration and committed alpine style at high altitude. During a two-month expedition, the three alpinists summited the second highest, previously unclimbed mountain in the world, Saser Kangri II. The team reached the summit on August 24 via the steep, 1700m southwest face, after four days of ascent and three bivouacs. The route's technical difficulties are concentrated in the higher part of the climb.

K7 West (6615m), Pakistan

Young Slovenians Nejc Marcic and Luka Strazar, twenty-six and twenty-three years old respectively, reached the west summit of K7 in a three-day, alpine style ascent of the previously unclimbed northwest face via a 1600m sustained mixed route, completing the third ascent of this famous summit in the Charakusa valley. Exploration, technical difficulty, minimalist style and commitment are the characteristics of their ascent. It was their first Himalayan expedition.

Xuelian North-East (6249m), China

Xuelian North-East was the last remaining unclimbed 6000m peak in the Xuelian Feng, a massif in the Chinese Tien Shan. Slovenians Ales Holc, Peter Juvan and Igor Kremser climbed it in alpine style, taking the long and aesthetic northwest ridge over four days, and descending on the southeast side in a day and a half. The technical difficulty and length of this route, climbed in minimalist style, caught the attention of the jury.

Meru Central (6310m), India

Attempted by many expeditions since 1986, this incredible route on the east pillar of Meru Central, the Shark's Fin, was climbed in its entirety for the first time by Americans Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk. This particularly aesthetic route has all the difficulties of modern alpinism: rocky terrain involving difficult free climbing and committing aid climbing, and delicate mixed terrain in the upper section.

Torre Egger (2850m), Argentina

The Patagonian spires have always lured the best technical climbers on the planet. A distant land ravaged by the southern winds, its granite peaks covered in the strangest of glacial formations. Rime and ice can cover the walls of these polished rocks, and sometimes coat them completely, depending on the wind direction. At the end of December the entire wall of Torre Egger's south face was covered in ice. Norwegians Bjørn-Eivind Årtun and Ole Lied climbed this vertical tower, taking the alpine community by surprise with their opportunism.

The Norwegian climbing community lost two of its best alpinists this week when Bjørn-Eivind Årtun and Stein-Ivar Gravdal died attempting new ice routes on Kjerag, a big wall rising out of the fjords in southwest Norway. When they didn't return last Thursday as expected, a helicopter was sent out and found the climbers "hanging upside down on the face, motionless and with considerable evidence of blood on the ice below," The BMC reports.

Known best as a big-wall climber, Gravdal was the first to climb the north face of Antarctica's Ulvetanna (2960m), a twenty-one-pitch route reaching difficulties of 5.10 and A4. He made the second complete ascent of the infamous Norwegian Buttress (VII 6b A4, 1500m) on the northeast pillar of Great Trango Tower in 2008.

A photographer and father living in Oslo, Årtun began alpine climbing just six years ago, and has been a Patagonia regular since. He repeated Los Tiempos Perdidos (M5 AI5+) and made a speed ascent of the Ragni Route, both on Cerro Torre. Årtun also established Hvit Linje (600m, WI5) below Poincenot. In December, he and Ole Lied put up Venas Azulas (6b+ A1 AI6, 950m) on Torre Egger, described by Rolando Garibotti as "the Ragni Route on steroids."

In 2010, Årtun's new route up Mt. Foraker earned he and partner Colin Haley a Piolet d'Or nomination. The duo finished the route in a daring seventy-one-hour push. Haley wrote about their ascent in his Alpinist 32 feature, "Scared":

I might die climbing. You might, too. We can make efforts to minimize the risks, but ultimately we either accept the possibility of dying on a mountain, fool ourselves that the possibility doesn't exist--or we quit.

Sources: thebmc.co.uk, coldthistle.blogspot.com, pataclimb.com.