UKC

Just wondered if anyone knew if any brits had climbed Cerro Torre and if any of them had climbed it by a route other than the Compressor.

Ta,

In reply to Tom Ripley:

Iain Peter, Neil Johnson and Steve Long

One of the Burgess twins?

Some British ascents in Patagonia:

In 1981 Phil Burke and Tom Proctor made an audacious attempt at what was to become El Arca. Proctor and Burke, both excellent climbers, made use of a metal box that had been constructed by the British team of Campell-Kell and Wyvill. The box was a metal portaledge that the teams hauled up behind them on the face. Burke commented about the difficulties they encountered: “The grade would be modern ED3/4, with high standard rock pitches and particularly difficult ice pitches from 70° to overhanging, as well as dry tooling on one pitch, where I fell jumping from a sky-hook for a good hold! The average angle of the wall is more than 70°.”

Arguably one of the most active British ascentionists in Patagonia has been Mike 'Twid' Turner, with his trio of difficult new routes: A Fist Full of Dollars on Curnos Norte in 1991, For a few Dollars More on the Mascara (both with his wife Louise) and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly! 800m A3, 5.10 (not summited) a new line on the un-climbed South face of The South Tower of Paine (with Stuart McAleese).

Leo Houlding and Kevin Thaw attempted what was to become El Arca de los Vientos in 2002. Their attempt ended on the ninth pitch when Houlding fell ninety feet, shattering his foot. He had to crawl several miles to base camp, helped by Thaw.

In 2005 the Plas y Brenin team of Iain Peter, Neil Johnson and Steve Long made an ascent of the Compressor Route on Cerro Torre, but only after a near miss at the final belay when a lump of ice knocked Iain unconcious and also hit a climber on the first all female ascent team from Slovenia. Luckily all teams summited safely.

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=819

Not forgetting the Anglo-Argentine team of Martin Boysen, Mick Burke, Pete Crewe, Jose Luis Fonroughe and Dougal Haston attempt on SE Ridge in 1968....got 450m above Col of Patience.

In reply to Captain Gear:

And of course the first ascent of Cerro Torre

The Italians: Danielle Chiappa, Mario Conti, Casimiro Ferrari and Pino Negri by the West Face...January 13th 1974

The West Face is the route Tom....you going to make an ascent of this?

In reply to Mick Ryan - Senior Editor - UKC:


I've got vague plans to go to Patagonia in the next couple of years so we'll have to wait and see.

Has Andy Parkin not climbed Cerro Torre with a French climber?

In reply to Captain Gear:


Don;t know.

The lower "route" has a French name I can't pronounce, but back in 1994 Francois Marsigny and Andy Parkin started from the southeast side and climbed a serac-threatened, ephemeral ice and mixed couloir for 800 vertical meters to the Col of Hope, intersecting where the 1974 West Face route (which starts on the remote icecap side) wraps around. The plan and the prize had been obvious: continue up the remaining 600 meters to the Torre's summit. Hit the summit and you can go over, zip down the Compressor Route, and stroll on back to your bivy, sin problema. Right. Marsigny and Parkin got battered back by storms some 300 meters below the summit and retreated down to the icecap, their to-hell-and-back epic lasting nine long days.

http://www.climbing.com/exclusive/features/fantasyland/index3.html

This is your authoritative source

Click the route links on the right sidebar

http://pataclimb.com/climbingareas/chalten/torregroup/torre.html

In reply to Captain Gear:

Mick Pointon and Leigh McGinley did a route on the west face (may have been the normal west face Route) in the late 1990s but I think they turned back a pitch or two from the top of the route due to the state of the snow/ice.

ALC