Patagonia Unplugged: an unofficial and incomplete guide to the western approaches to the Fitzroy massif

Like most first-time visitors to Argentine Patagonia, I was lured south by the legendary reputation of its two greatest peaks, Cerro Torre and Fitzroy.

Beyond them, I knew next to nothing about the geography and climbing on the subsidiary summits beneath these giants. After three weeks of waiting, the wind gods mercifully provided a two day weather window that allowed my partner and I to make a quick dash up Cerro Torre’s infamous Compressor Route. But during the course of our climb, I found myself continually gazing across the Torre Valley at the ten kilometer ridge of needled summits that stretches south from Fitzroy: Aguja de la Silla, Desmochada and Poincenot, followed by Innominata (also called Rafael Juarez), Saint Exupery, and de la S. I didn’t even know all their names then, but it was precisely that element of the unknown that captivated my imagination.

Of course, there was established routes from the Torre Valley to all the summits of these peaks, but I was overwhelmed by the amount of climbable rock that remained unexplored. Most of the major faces had only a single established route on them, yet the crack systems that could yield a potential new line were too numerous to count. At the same time, the terrain looked intimidating: there were vast swaths of third and forth class terrain guarding the steep stuff, and many crack systems dead-ended on sub-towers below the main peaks. And because of the limited information, vague topos and inaccurate route photos available, just repeating an established route could be a hell of an adventure. For the next two seasons, I returned to Chalten, dutifully schlepped my equipment from town to the Polacos bivouac, and commenced to explore these intriguing towers for myself. I had some great days repeating a few of the established classics, and was lucky enough to establish three new lines of my own.

What follows is an abbreviated, unofficial and incomplete guide to the area based on my own experiences. For rookies, the established trade routes on Innominata, Saint Exupery, and de la S are a great way to get experience and become comfortable with the harsh demands of climbing in Patagonia. Hard-cores will gravitate towards the steep, splitter and often unclimbed features that still remain for future generations. Rather than try to supply the kind of minute beta for specific routes that people have come to expect in the age of Supertopo, I have instead focused on providing information about the general strategy and tactics that might help lay the groundwork for a successful ascent. Hopefully this approach will preserve an element of exploration and discovery for everyone’s experience, even if they are climbing on a well-traveled route. I make no claims that all the following info is accurate – be careful, be accountable for your own actions, but most of all be adventurous.

Travel Logistics:
The best way to get to Chalten is to fly through Buenos Aires to Calafate, and then take a bus (approximately 4 hours). As of this writing, round-trip plane tickets from New York to Calafate were going for 1200 – 1400 dollars. Ideally you can leave home around mid-day, have an overnight flight to B.A., a morning flight to Calafate, and catch an evening bus to Chalten. The travel is surprisingly straight forward and all necessary supplies can be bought in Chalten.

General Strategy: Accurate weather forecasts can be readily obtained via the internet in town. Most modern teams eschew the traditional basecamp-style expedition and opt to cache climbing gear, bivy equipment, and hill food at one of the high bivouacs and then wait in town for good weather. With a light load, most bivy sites are a 4-6 hour hike from town. Bring some heavy “contractor” trash bags from home to waterproof your cache and remember to discretely hide your equipment among the boulders. Some theft does occasionally occur.

Approach To Polacos: To reach the Polacos bivy, locate the major trail that begins at the southwest side of Chalten and leads towards the Torre Valley and Campo d’Agostini (formerly Camp Bridwell, about two hours from town). Just beyond d’Agostini, cross the Tyrolean traverse over the river that is the outlet for Lago Torre, and then follow a well established trail that skirts the lake to the left (south). Once beyond the lake, drop down onto the glacier and follow its left side, at one point negotiating a loose moraine trough to circumvent the first major icefall. Once above this obstacle, bear right and head across the glacier towards the upper valley, heading towards flat-topped El Mocho. Once you are directly beneath Saint Exupery, on your right, head right and climb talus off the floor of the valley. The Polacos bivy is located approximately 500 vertical feet above the glacier, beneath Poincenot and just up-valley of the gully between Innominata and Poincenot. Caution! The exact route of the final climb to Polacos is extremely loose and varies from year to year. Careful route-finding is important. Several injuries have resulted from falls and rockfall in the unstable talus. Take care to limit your exposure to rockfall from above.

There is plenty of room for numerous parties to camp at Polacos, though finding water can sometimes be an issue. If there is no running snowmelt available in camp, hike uphill — Small running trickles can normally be found at the base of the slabs approximately 20 minutes above camp.

Approaches Above Polacos: To access the south face of Poincenot, Innominata, Saint Exupery, and the north ridge of de la S, hike directly up hill from Polacos, then move left at the base of the lowest slab to the beginning of a giant fault-line feature that slashes up and right. Identifying the start of this approach gully in daylight before you make an alpine start will help. See photo for details. For Desmochada and the north face of Poincenot, hike up underneath the gully that separates Poincenot from Desmochada, then scramble up the rock buttress left of the gully (lots of 4th class with some short 5.6; consider breaking out the rope and simul-climbing if you are not comfortable soloing this kind of terrain).

Climbing Strategy:
Most teams choose to tackle routes on the smaller spires (Desmochada, Innominata, Saint Exupery, and de la S) in a single long day from Polacos. This strategy normally means that you will leave camp between 2 – 3 AM, do the approach by headlamp, start the technical climbing at first light, summit in the late afternoon, and hopefully have enough time to descend before it gets dark. Many teams do end up rappelling in the dark; total camp-to-camp efforts of around 24 hours are common. Having a warm belay parka and some espresso beans helps make the mid-night rappels go smoothly. Get an early start — those approach gullies are longer than you think.

Most teams will ditch extra crampons and ice gear, one pack, and all other superfluous gear at the start of the technical climbing, and pack all their stuff into a single backpack for the second to carry. The leader goes packless, or with a very light load. Climbing on a single rope gives the second the option to jug. While it is undoubtedly more enjoyable for the second to free-climb pitches, if you are carrying a heavy load of ice gear and/or bivy supplies it is quicker and more efficient to jug. Leading in blocks of 3-6 pitches helps everyone to stay warm.

Equipment:
Rack: A standard rack for most technical Patagonia routes consists of a double set of cams to #3 Camalot, and one each of #4 and #5, plus a full set of nuts, 8-10 slings and free biners, and 3-4 cordelettes. On the trade routes, you can normally get away with less. For establishing rappel anchors, I find doubles of large nuts (BD size 9-13) to be especially helpful, as well as lots of cord to sling horns and equalize gear.

Footwear: In favorable mid-season conditions, you can get away with wearing a lightweight gortex hiking boot or approach shoe — Last year I summited Fitzroy twice wearing a pair of the La Sportiva Onix GTX-XCRs. On most routes from the Polacos bivy, you will need a pair of lightweight aluminum crampons and one ice axe for the approach. Remember that at night temperatures are frequently below freezing and there is often very hard snow conditions in the approach gullies. Don’t try to get away with doing any of these approaches without the proper gear. If your route looks to be pure rock climbing, you can leave your ice gear and approach shoes at the bottom of your route. For rock shoes, I wear a pair of oversized Barracudas that I can comfortably wear with socks on.

Other equipment notes: A piece of surgical hosing is invaluable for siphoning water from small trickles or cracks in the rock. Consider investing in ultra-light aluminum crampons and a light ice-axe: conventional steel ice gear becomes very heavy when you have to carry it on your backpack up technical rock terrain. I like to have a light, tight fitting pair of gloves that I can rock climb moderate terrain in — either mixed climbing gloves, or neoprene work gloves from the hardware store, work great. Even if Bilbo taught you not to tape for cracks at the Creek, the coarse Joshua Tree granite of Patagonia will make you think again…

Selected Routes:

North Ridge of de la S: at only five technical pitches, this is one of the shortest routes in the range, with one of the longest approaches. Still, it is worth considering as a warm-up route or a reasonable objective on marginal weather days. Approach as for Claro de Luna, but continue moving south under Saint Exupery into the diagonal gully between Saint Exupery and de la S. At the top of the gully, move onto the east face and ascend easy snow and mixed terrain for one pitch. Then climb a beautiful 5.6 crack to reach the broad upper shoulder of de la S. Walk across the low angle talus to reach the upper spire. You can choose to either follow the true crest of the ridge (5.9) or climb one of several chimney features to its right (probably easier but less fun). Descend by rappelling the route – only one 60 meter rope is needed.

Claro de Luna, Saint Exupery: an all-time alpine classic, with twenty-odd pitches of rock climbing that goes at mid 5.10. Probably the technical crux is a thin corner on the second pitch (can be avoided by going around to the right), though expect some loose rock and route-finding challenges higher up. Simul-climbing the moderate terrain in the middle section of the route goes a long way to helping avoid the all-night rappel party. Rap the top part chimney portion of the route, then go fall-line over a steep face festooned with anchors to reach the bottom ramp of the Kearney-Harrington some 400 yards higher up the approach gully.

The west face of Saint Exupery, showing Claro de Luna (red); The Super Trek variation (yellow), and The Last Gringos Standing (green).

The Anglo-American Route, Innominata: A popular route, but bring a number 5 Camalot and beware of the stiff off-width lurking right below the summit.

The northwest pillar of Innominata, showing 1) Artezebella, 2) Blood on the Tracks, 3) Corallo, 4) the Anglo-American Route.

The Sound and the Fury, Desmochada: A really cool route, which perhaps got a bad reputation because Dave Sharratt and I epic-ed on the first ascent. The route ascends a beautiful crack system on the SW face, which nevertheless goes at a surprisingly moderate 5.11 A1, with loads of classic crack climbing and aid necessary on only two pitches (freed by Will Stanhope and Jason Kruk at 12b). Also check out its sister line Golden Eagle, and the properly burly looking El Falcon.

Enter the arena: Desmochada from the southwest, showing 1) El Condor, 2) Golden Eagle, 3) The Sound and the Fury, 4) Dieta del Lago, 5) El Facon.

The Future: Alpinists are often limited by an irrational desire to end their climb on a major summit. But if it’s adventure and new exploration you seek, consider the numerous unclimbed lines that end on the gendarmed ridges between and below the other peaks. Two good places to start looking: the sub-towers below the West Ridge of Poincenot, and the ridge in between Innominata and Saint Exupery.

Resources:
http://www.climbinginpatagonia.freeservers.com/ — an unbelievable resource, with many topos.
http://ktml.freeservers.com/Patagonia.htm — Kevin has some good stories, photos, and a few topos.
http://209.20.70.87/AAJO/ — the American Alpine Journal search engine. Searching for a specific route or peak name will yield lots of information. Make sure you have the spelling correct.