ExWeb series: Cerro Torre - The spell of Patagonia's tower
Nov 9, 2004 12: 11 EST
Published Nov 9, 2004
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 up 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 two part ExWeb series we visit the tower and its climbing history, celebrating 30 years this year. Today, Part 1: Walter Bonatti and the Italian Spiders.
Mountain Club Ragni di Lecco
The Northern Italy alpine province of Lecco is celebrating. At least its mountain club, located by the pictoresque Lake Como, is. 30 years ago the club Ragni di Lecco (the “Lecco’s Spiders”) accomplished one of the most remarkable climbs in the spider’s history - and in International alpinism.
A last, desperate bid
On January 13, 1974, two teams from the club reached the summit of Cerro Torre through the West Face. Mario Conti and Casimiro Ferrari climbed the huge summit ice ‘mushroom’ to the top; Daniele Chiappa and Pino Negri, followed shortly after. They had launched a last, desperate bid and eventually succeeded after two months of suffering continuous wind and snow storms.
Impossible to climb
The 12 member team had launched the expedition in order to celebrate another anniversary: the Centenary of the Lecco’s Italian Alpine Club section.
The guys had been thinking of Cerro Torre for a long time. To be exact, ever since the great Walter Bonatti, along with Carlo Mauri, had attempted the peak back in 1957: After reaching 120 meters over a saddle they named ‘Col of Hope’ they decided to abort the attempt and, well, pronounced the magic words: “Impossible to climb”.
‘The Dolomiti Spider’
That launched British and Italian teams toward the new proposed challenge.
Among them another ‘spider’: Cesare Maestri, nick-named ‘The Dolomite Spider’, was a bold pioneer of solo climbing. He too had attempted Torre’s walls in 1957, only to be rejected and swear he’d return. In 1959 he climbed the north Face of the mountain with Tony Egger, one of the most outstanding climbers of his time. It’s not clear how far they got.
Part 2: Tony’s death, Cesare’s bitter repeat climb and Ferrari’s Patagonian destiny.
Image of Cerro Torre courtesy www.adamstein.org, and ’74 expedition to Cerro Torre courtesy of the Ragni di Lecco through Planet Mountain.
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