Fitz Roy CLimbing - some time in Febuary

This was pencilled in as one of the sure fire highlights before the start of the trip. A 3 day pilgramage along the rediculously long and straight and still mostly unfinshed Ruta 40 through vast plains of steppe took us to the small frontier town of El Chalten full of trendy cafes, gear shops and parilla restaurants.

Fixing a puncture on Ruta 40 on the way to Fitz Roy

The Fitz Roy region is renouned for its bad weather including gale force winds and being so close to the pacific ocean lots of rain. However it appeared we had turned up in the middle of a wonderful Patagonian weather window as according to one climber there had been no rain for 3 weeks. SLightly unbelievable but the National park weather forecast said there was to be 2 more days of good weather before it closed in. After a bit of research and a chat with some guides we had an objective in mind, the needle of Guillaumet in the Fitz Roy range would provide some 50 degree ice before 12 pitches of rock climbing on the amazing patagonian granite.

As the walk ins are big in this area we took an early taxi to the trailhead and trekked along the Rio Electrico where we unhappily had to pay 70 pesos for entry into some private land outside the Glaciares national park. Oli saved the day on this one as none of us had packed any money. A steep trek lead up to the base of a small glacier where we made our base camp before scouting out the start of the route. As it turned out the next morning we spent the whole day climbing the wrong route and were amazed when after 12 pitches of climbing we were nowhere near the summit. Turns out we had started a good 400m below the start of the route. Some were dejected but we had found the start of the Fonrouge route on a ramp approached via a snowramp further up the glacier than we had gone today. Esther, a strong Austrian alpinist and myself were keen to give the summit another bash. SO the next morning at 6 we woke, prepared tea and cheese sarnies and stormed up the 50 degree ice field amist the rising sun to the start of the route. Together we moved very quickly and by 11 were at the 6b crux of the route just 5 easy pitches away from the summit. Esther lead the crux pitch really well with some jamming and laybacking and after losing the hotaches in my hands I traversed across a picture perfect slab of granite with the view of Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre becoming more apparent. Before the summit a long scrambling pitch up a slab and a ridge led to the twin boulder summit where we were able to celebrate with some chocolate and with the wind so calm were able to boulder on to the top of the twin summits and take photos of each others celebrations. We spent about an hour on the summit with the map studying the amazing vista of peaks and the huge Patagonian ice field.

A long abseil and boot ski down the now soft glacier took us back to camp where we celebrated with Pete and Oli who kindly cooked us spaghetti with tuna. Slept well in the knowledge we could lie in and leisurely return to town the next day.

Buitrera and the standing stone 15/2/2012 - 20/2/2012

Reluctantly left Bariloche behind and had a pleasant drive day throough the Argentine lake district before the scenery tuurned to the famed vast expanses of Patagonian steppe. On arrival at our campsite by the standing stone and a dirty river we got stuck ina sand ditch 5 metres short of the parking spot. We got digging again but consistent with the last two times we got stuck this strategy did not work. We were hapy enough as this time we had got stuck within easy walking distance of great climbing.

Errnie stuck again

Digging out the axle

On  the 1st day we went only to the entrance of the large gorge where the sector entrada hosted 7 great sport climbs from 5 up to 7b. On first appearance the honeycomb rock looked awful but on climbing it it was very solid and juggy.

Climbing at the alero cave

The second day the police turned up with a big truck and pulled Ernie out of the sand and we went to probably the best sector at Buitreraa. El Alero was a huge cave full of huecos, jugs and then a short headwall. There was some great unusual climbing to get out of the cave before romping up the steep but juggy headwall.

The entrance to the Buitrera gorge

Despite the bridge Dave and I decided to wade across poo river

On the third day requiring a rest from steep sport and a change of scenery Pete and I teamed up to tackle the impressive standing stone. We had little information on the route apart from a roughly drawn topo from the last hot rock expedition that passed through. Pete led the first pitch after we found a belay through zooming in on a photo of the crag up a chimney of discouraging rock. 3rd pitch was a stoonker on lovely rock before i lead up a nice chimney, supposedly the crux of the route (6a+ on trad). It then all turned downhill. The rock turned very friable and pete bravely led up and round a very unstable chimney while i had to dodge the dislodged rocks which hurtled back down the chimney. Although there were only 2 pitches left we took 4 pitches to weave our way safetly through the choss and onto the summit of the standing stone where we got good views of the surrounding desert and got to write in the summit book. An easy 5 abseils and we were relieved to be down.

Pared piedra (The standing stone)

Start of the good third pitch

On a belay ledge above  Petes horror pitch

Mountaineers pose on the summit

That night we had the  culinary highlight  where stu and I cooked vegetable kebabs over the bbq and combined with Chris garlic bread made for a great but late dinner.
The last two  days involved exploring deeper into the gorge which rrevealed a whole load more climbing potential and we had to spend a day finishing climbing projects on El Elero which with all the quickdraws hanging off it had been made to look loike a christmas tree!

Exploring the deeper areas of the gorge

Some local wildlife

As we departed it was time to get really excited as our next destination was the world famous Fitz Roy range of mountains 3 days drive away.

Bariloche and Frey 31,1,2012 - 14,1,2012

What could possibly live up to the big granite domes of Cochamo. Well we were off to the world class rock climbing venue of Frey near the town of Bariloche in the beautiful Lake district area of Argentina. This meant crossing the border from Chile back into probably my favourite South American country. Seb had previously visited Bariloche and promised us great ice cream. Whilst our esteemed espedition leader sorted out the mules for our day trek up to Frey we had the opportunity to test ourselves on some of the local volcanic sport crags. Having worked out the stupid buses which refused to accept cash we climbed above beautiful lakes on solid rock. This was also an area with an excellent local scene with many local climbers joining us at the crags which was really enjoyable.

After three days we were all ready for the trek up to Frey. Having waved goodbye to Ernie and our driver who would spend the week fishing we started to trek along Lago Guturriez and up the valley to Frey.We walked past lovely waterfalls, through forests. After about 3 hours we emerged from the forest and saw the first granite spire marking our arrival at Frey. As soon as we arrived at the refugio the infamous wind hit us. OUtside the refugio we were able to sit nin deck chairs and watch climbers completing the climb up the aguja de Frey next to the refugio which filled us all with excitement. Having taken a number of detours I arrived at the back so thought I would not get the best of tent spots which was important in this windy place. However after a bit of poking around Steve and I found the best little spot in a hollow in the forest completely out of the wind. We had the afternoon free so made some home improvements making a small kitchen, a bench out of the granite slabs and cutting away some of the intruding vegetation.

Could not wait to get started on the first day. After the walk in the previous day I teamed up with Pete, a highly knowledgable and experienced climber and we went to the closeby Aguja de Frey and climbed the 90m 5 pitch Sifuentes Weber climb which followed cracks right up the centre of the spire. Absolutely brilliant climbing was had and then completed two more single pitch routes following the sun round the crag, amazing crack climbing.

The second day Pete and I decided to make the big walk in to the Aguja principal , the highest peak in the area at 2450m. We opted for the 150m 5+ route called Clemenzo. The first 2 pitches were most disappointing before Pete led a difficult and sustained offwidth crack which I actually had to jam on. My next pitch led to the summit via a crazy pitch up through a cave and along a supremely windy ridge. Had a bit of an epic getting down as we failed to find the abseil bolts so had to leave some trad gear behind and hope there were additional belays down the route.

After another day on two nearby needles called the Grandfather and M2 I teamed up wioth Canadian Mckay to tackle the second highest summit Campanille Esloveno. I wanted to go for something a bit more ambitious so chose the route described as the 'best route in Frey´ called Imaginate , a 5 pitch 6a+ up the North west face of the spire. A lovely walk over the col and into the adjacent glacial cirque and then up past the impressive Banana crag led us quickly up to the spire full of excitment. The climbing was amazing up huecos, big pockets, edges, hanging aretes and cracks with a belay in a  cave halfway up the route in a very exposed position. In addition the wind was extremely strong adding to the seriousness of the climb. At times on the aretes you could not move, just had to cling on and wait for a gap in the wind. On descent the wind made abseiling a nightmare as the ropes were blown horizontally across the crag leading to them getting stuck in many of the granite knobs and cracks.

We had one final day on the old man, a very impressive needle giving great slab and arete climbing. From the summit of Esloveno I had spotted the beautiful old volcano Mt Tronador and Mckay and I decided to leave a day early and walk down to make an attempt at the 3450m mountain. After a cracking barbecue and some ice cream in Bariloche to boost energy we made an 18km walk in to the refugio at the foot of the glacier Alerce leading down from the summit.Apart from the return of the dreaded horse flies the walk up was pleasant switchbacks up through a forest before a lava flow ridge led up to the refugio. Tronador means the thunderer and having arrived at base camp we knew why. The wind again was very strong and we were lucky to be able to rest in the lovely refugio and drink great hot chocolate. Having found out some beta on the route and established we had a good weather window we got to bed early. Arose at 130 am and sprinted up to the glacier and found our way through an intricate web of deep crevasses and onto the ridge which led to the summit of the Argentine peak. After a steep snow plod and a short ice pitch we stood on the summit, well we laid down on the summit as it was far too windy to stand. Getting cold we made a quick retreat from the summit and back to the glacier where we were able to finally relax and enjoy some sarnies. We followed tracks back to the refugio in good time and spent the afternoon recovering by sleeping and eating. A good day before the walk down the next day.

This marked the end of our first patagonian destination and after a couple of days restocking in Bariloche we were off to the Patagonian steppe and climbing in a gorge by a big standing stone.