New Hampsherites Dana “Mad Dog” Drummond and Freddie Wilkinson have done a superb three-day traverse of Aguja Guillaumet, Aguja Mermoz, and Fitz Roy by its North Pillar. The traverse was the culmination of three warm-up climbs, including two new routes or variations, completed during the incredible high-pressure system that settled over the Fitz Roy massif during the second half of January.

“Mad Dog and I had four different successful climbs, but I really see them as part of a prolonged project that involved first doing our homework via a new route on Guillaumet, a new variation on Fitz Roy, and a free ascent of the Red Pillar on Mermoz, then linking all three summits in a single three-day traverse,” Wilkinson said in an email from Patagonia.

Even the most casual observer of Patagonian climbing must be aware of the Torre Traverse, the Cerro Standhardt to Cerro Torre link-up that was attempted for two decades before Rolando Garibotti and Colin Haley completed it in January. By comparison, the Guillaumet–to–Fitz Roy traverse was a little-known plum, completed by relatively little-known climbers.

Read the extensive report by Dougald MacDonald at Climbing.com.