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Cerro Torre: The spell of Patagonia's tower - part 2
Nov 9, 2004 11: 56 EST
Patagonia is located in the southern end of South America, territory of Argentina and Chile, stretching South to the island of Tierra del Fuego and North to the south of the river Colorado between the Andes and the Atlantic Ocean. One of Patagonia’s most outstanding peaks is Cerro Torre (Mountain Tower).
In this ExWeb series we visit the tower and its climbing history, celebrating 30 years this year. Today, Part 2: Tony’s death, Cesare’s bitter second climb and Ferrari’s Patagonian destiny:
Maestri is the key
When the Ragni’s reached the summit in 1974, it was celebrated as a first ascent, as the skeptics presumed that Maestri lied about his 1959 climb. When he came back from Patagonia in 1959, he claimed to have reached the summit with Tony Egger, who had the camera with the summit pictures.
But Tony was swept away by an avalanche on descent, his body and camera never recovered. Controversy was served: Maestri couldn’t provide proof, and many doubted his word.
"I'll climb again for you all to see!"
The Dolomite spider turned bitter. Cerro Torre became an obsession and he spared no expenses in a second expedition: “I’ll come back, and climb again for you all to see. And by the way, I’ll climb it by a new route and in winter.”
And that he did, in a huge expedition, with fixed ropes all over the wall and a 70 kg (150 lbs) air compressor which they hauled all over, to shoot bolts into the naked face of the Cerro.
The skeptics ran to declare: ‘that was not a climb as it is meant to be’. The Ragni climb, on the contrary, was unanimously applauded. Nobody cared when even Casimiro Ferrari, acclaimed as a hero back home, affirmed his confidence in Maestri’s words. “Why would he lie? Are we going to doubt every single mountaineering feat, or what?”
57 pitches
The Ragni’s route on the West face is no doubt impressive for that time: 57 pitches, mainly on ice up to 85 degrees, rock sections up to VI and A2, and designed as ED+ (the highest degree of difficulty on the alpine scale). Add the vicious Patagonia weather, and you get a real A-class climb.
The West face route became the most logical line to the summit of Torre. It was the one chosen by the next successful team: Americans John Brag, Dave Carman and Jay Wilson.
Ferrari fled it all for Patagonia
Climbing Cerro Torre became a major turning point for every member of the Ragni team, but Casimiro Ferrari was affected most, never be able to get Patagonia out of his mind.
Two years later he led the first ascent of the neighboring and equally impressive Fitzroi. After returning back to Italy he tried to get back to normal life. But, one day, he couldn’t stand it anymore. All of the sudden, he abandoned his prosperous business, his wife, his friends and his easy life, and fled back to the land he had grown to love so much. He bought a small ‘hacienda’ by the shore of the Viedma lake, at the foot of his beloved mountains, and would live there until he died, in the spring of 2001.
Monday Part 3: Current expedition on Cerro Torre - Battling the winds once again.
Image of Torres del Paine, ExplorersWeb, Cesare Maestri on Cerro Torre, courtesy giornaledibrescia.it, Fitzroy, courtesy of Erber, outdoor-foto.at, and ’74 Cerro Torre expedition and summiteers, courtesy of the Ragni di Lecco and Planet Mountain.
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