1 - 1952 – French ascent, Terray - Magnone, South East route
2 - 1965 - Supercouloir, West Face, Fonrouge-Comesaña
3 - 1968 – Californianan route, South West, Chouinard-Tompkins
4 - 1972 – English route, South Face.
5 - 1976 – Ragni route, East Face.
6 - 1979 - Goretta or Casarotto route, North Pilar.
7 - 1979 – Afanassief route, North West Face.
8 - 1983 – Czechoslovakian route, West Face.
9 - 1983 - Devils Dihedral, North East Face.
10 - 1984 – Argentine Route, South East Face.
11 - 1984 – Spanish Route, East Face.
12 - 1984 - Kearney – Knight route, North Pilar.
13 - 1984 – Polish route, North East Face.
14 - 1985 - Boris Simoncic, South Face.
15 - 1985 - Chimichurri y tortas fritas, North Pilar.
16 - 1986 - Tehuelche, North face.
17 - 1992 - El Corazón, East Face.
18 - 1995 - Ensueño, North West Face
19 - 1995 - Royal Flush, East Face.
My first ascent to Fitz Roy was in 2004, after 9 years of my first visit to El Chaltén. In the summer 94-95, I did my first Expedition with 3 friends from Bariloche; in this opportunity we were able to climb “Aguja Guillaumet”, “Aguja de la S”, and “Poincenot”. We also did our first attempt to Fitz Roy, but we´ve got only to the 4th pith of the “Franco-Argentina” route. The following year, I did another attempt to Fitz Roy by the “Californian” route, but we had to turn around again...
Afterword’s, I was very busy working as a guide the following summers, until 2004 when my 2 friends Walter and Jeremías invited me to go with them to Fitz Roy: We´re going up to Paso Superior tomorrow, you want to come with us? No doubt I said yes! Get my pack ready and the following day we went to “Paso Superior”, were we did a bivouac with the idea to start at 1am to the “ Brecha de los Italianos”. At night it was overcast with some wind and snowflakes, so we stay in our sleeping bags...We awake at 9am with the sky clear and sunny! What do we do? Let´s start now anyways and we´ll do a bivouac on the Wall. So we climbed to the 5th pitch (base of the dihedral), were we fixed next pitch and spend the night in a very small ledge.
When we were going to use our stove to melt snow and make some soup, we realized that the fuel canister was not compatible with our stove! No other option than some chocolate and cold water for dinner...It was a cold and long night, but at sunrise we´re ready to keep going up with nice weather!
We´ve got to the Summit in the afternoon and an incredible view; I remember when I got to the end of difficulties, 30 min below the Summit, an indescribable emotion! Some Photos and hugs in the top of Fitz Roy and we started our way down to Paso Superior and to celebrate at El Chaltén with a big barbecue!
1 - 1959 – Maestri-Egger, North Face.
2 - 1970 - Maestri Compressor Route, South East Face.
3 - 1974 - Via Ragni-Ferrari, West Face.
4 - 1981 – English route, North East dihedral.
5 - 1986 - 'Directisima al infierno', East Face
6 - 1988 - South Face, Karo – Jeglic.
7 - 1994 - 'A la recherche du temps perdú', South West Face.
8 - 1994 - 'What's love got to do with it', South Face.
9 - 1994 - 'Cristalli nel Vento', North West Face.
10 - 1995 - 'Infinito Sud', South Face.
Along the winter and spring, there is enough time to imagine the next projects for the summer... That´s how we decided to try Cerro Torre by the compressor route with my friends Max and Manu in 2007.
In our first attempt, we could only get to the “Shoulder” of the Torre. There is were the technical climb begin. To reach the shoulder you need to traverse the Torre Glacier and then ascend a mixed ramp of 300m. Once in the shoulder we dig a snow cave and we fixed the first two pitches of the route in order to start faster the following day...The next morning, the weather was stormy! So well, get up to get the ropes and descend to El Chaltén.
At the end of November, we saw another chance with the weather forecast to try it again, this time we reach the pitch 15 of the route, half way up, but we had to bivouac in a small ledge on a stormy night! Again, we turned around next morning...
After we all started to work, and then in February 2008, we saw a long “window” of good weather coming with Max. Manu couldn´t come this time, because he had to guide a group, so we decide to try it with Max.
This time, we began climbing from “Norwegian”, bivouac, we passed the mixed ramp and reached the 10th pitch, were we decided to stop for a bivouac in a good ledge, and we´re not so sure of the incoming clouds...
The next morning, clear sky and we kept going up! The idea was to reach the top this day, but in the last pitch of the headwall, it was late at night and we had to descended 40 meters below to bivouac in a small ledge, together with a British party.
After the second bivouac in the Wall, sunrise was clear, and after a cappuccino with Max, we went up to the Summit, and we realized that the previous night we were very close to the end of the route. Once climbing the Summit mushroom, we felt a great emotion, a dream that become true...
At mid day we were in the top of Cerro Torre, and we shared this moment with our families by radio, they were waiting for our news at El Chaltén!
After 40 min. in the Summit, we began to descend and arrived to the shoulder at sunset. The following day back to El Chaltén to celebrate!