Patagonia

[EN/RO below]On our last climb attempt in the Torre Valley we noticed huge crevasses opened, snow bridges collapsed, some ice lines disappeared and no more rime snow on the granite faces. Another lesson learned: the conditions change extremely fast in Patagonia. Maybe there will be good conditions soon for rock climbing routes, I thought and started looking for some interesting routes to climb. Cerro Torre was obviously put on hold for now because there was simply no weather window long enough to even attempt to start a climb like that (we needed at least 3 days in a row). But [...]

[EN/RO below] Sustained ice chimney on Exocet | Aguja Standhardt We had plenty of things to do in the small village of El Chalten so we didn't get bored waiting for good weather conditions. Short bouldering sessions in the forest outside the village, repairing our broken tent, searching for the right food to bring in the mountains, meeting local climbers and talking about routes and climbs, testing the best local beer were normal daily activities. A higher atmospheric pressure was predicted to arrive across the massif on the New Year's Eve so we got ready to hike up to Niponino [...]

[EN/RO below] I don't find it hard to explain why I chose to travel to the “end of the world” to climb mountains. In the climbing world there are a few hot spots that attract alpinists and climbers for their mountain beauty, challenges and history. Among Himalaya, the Alps or Alaska, Patagonia stands out for its unique landscape, its tower shaped peaks and some of the harshest weather conditions on the planet. Lacking high altitudes, these mountains are still not easy to approach. Climbing is steep and mostly technical, the terrain is wild, glaciated and sometimes complicated and on top of all the weather forces you to [...]