Cerro Torre
Climbing Cerro Torre in Argentine Patagonia is the hardest project I have ever completed and pushed the boundary of whats possible beyond imagination.
It took years of training on rock and ice. Countless hours with a heavy backpack in the mountains. Technical understanding of the gear and its limitations. World class weather prediction and understanding of Earth processes.
Original write up from my Instagram below.
Cerro Torre, Torre Egger, and Cerro Standhardt from the East.
Matt Cornell Looking at the Headwall.
Cerro Torre’s Summit Covered in Rime Ice.
Matt and I on the Summit.
Original Write Up - in reference to my Instagram Post with Photos
Over the course of 6 days we climbed the Ragni route on Cerro Torre summiting on the afternoon of Thursday January 25th. We Approached from Niponino and escaped via Marconi pass. On route there were 5 teams with 12 total people from 6 countries including Italy, Romania, Bolivia, Argentina, UK and the US.
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Cerro Standhardt, Torre Egger and Cerro Torre from the West.
After breaking trail through considerable new snow we arrive at col Standhardt and our soaked clothes froze immediately, we silently contemplated committing to the west side… At the bivy below col de Esperanza after chilling and brewing up at Filo Roso…
Matt looking at the particularly snowy mix terrain above the first mushroom. This turned out to be all ice and the highest quality pitches of the route (in my opinion). Only one cam was placed out of novelty. .
Matt contemplates the virgin final pitch before putting in a solid 2 1/2 hour lead attempting the right side weakness. After a pendulum to an option on the left, Matt came down and we left the ropes at our high point. .
We had originally planned on sharing a tent and stove with another party for a potential bivy. That party ended up about 30 meters below and we were left with a tent but no stove, which means no water. Luckily, the Romanian team who we shared most of the route with had a stove and some food. We fit the four of us in a two man tent sleeping on ropes and backpacks with no sleeping bags. This bivy was about 60 meters below the summit!… The morning of day 2 Vlad of Romania went up for another 2 hour lead with a shovel and many pickets. Coming down exhausted just below better ice. It was Mati Korten of Argentina, on the 3rd attempt who succeeded to the top of the mushroom. We fixed several lines to two anchors and everyone proceeded to jug the final pitch. All 12 of us summited. .
During our short time on the summit the winds increased dramatically. It was about to get bad. The updrafts were incredibly strong and we descended to just below col de Esperanza in 3 hours mostly on v threads, some of which the Argentine party had set. .
Matt after reaching relatively higher safety, stoked to be back at our stove for water.