Sport-heute: Sailing - David Lama’s free climbing attempt on Cerro Torre

16. März 2010, 13:28

David Lama’s free climbing attempt on Cerro Torre

Austrian climber David Lama spent almost three months in the Cerro Torre area with the goal of being the first to freeclimb the infamous „Compressor route“ on Cerro Torre. Being known mainly for his achievements in competition and sports climbing, David was aware of his role as the underdog when coming to Patagonia and hiking up towards this majestic mountain.***Athlete: David Lama Discipline: Freeclimbing Photocredit: (c)Corey Rich/Red Bull Photofiles
Location: Patagonia, Argentina Country: Argentina.

16.3.2010 Brüttisellen (mk) A short flashback…
The Cerro Torre in Patagonia has always been classified as one of the most spectacular and fascinating mountains on the planet. A granite needle of 3,128 meters height that is so wild and exposed that it was previously deemed unclimbable and is nowadays still considered one of the most difficult mountains on earth.

All climbers who tried to climb Cerro Torre either failed or died trying, until in 1959 Italian Cesare Maestri claimed to have reached the summit. However, as his Tyrolean partner Toni Egger, who had carried their camera, was killed by an ice avalanche on the descent, there was no evidence of their ascent. Over the years, doubts arose among many alpinists, as for years no other climber managed to reach the summit.

In 1970, eleven years after he had been there with Egger, Maestri returned to Corre Torre as he could no longer live with the doubts about his ascent. Bringing along a compressor, he drilled his way up the mountain so that everyone could see he was the first to conquer the summit.

The climbing scene was horrified by this act, as bolting the whole route wasn’t seen as a “fair” ascent. Maestri’s method was harshly criticized for a long time, but today it’s still his bolts that make an ascent possible for most climbers…

Maestri‘s „Compressor route“ is symbolic for the attitude of former times: Reaching the summit was all that counted. But things have changed and the values of alpinism have shifted to new directions. For David Lama, who is an alpinist of a new generation, reaching the summit is just as important as the approach. Technical climbing, the usage of bolts and ladders for climbing go against his ethos.

In addition to competition and sports climbing as well as boulder projects, David also developed an interest in alpine projects. Mostly unnoticed by the climbing scene, he gained experience in first ascents and repetitions of classic routes throughout the alps. With the goal of freeclimbing big walls he also went on expeditions to Kyrgyzstan and the Cochamo Valley, but it wasn’t until David’s friend Hansjörg Auer told him about his experiences in the “Compressor route” that David started dreaming of Cerro Torre.

David had set his mind on attempting to freeclimb Meastri’s “Compressor route”, meaning that he would try to reach the summit only supported by natural structures like rock and ice and using Maestri’s bolts only for protection. David was aware that the difficulty of this project wasn’t just to climb the vertical walls of rock and ice, but also to do it in the right conditions.

The weather in the Cerro Torre area is known to be bad and unpredictable; it is very rare to have several continuous days of good weather before storms with an unbelievable intensity literally blow you out of the wall. “I didn’t believe storms like these existed until I came to Patagonia,” said David, also mentioning the imminent danger of rising temperatures causing ice avalanches to come down.

When David and his expedition partner Daniel Steuerer arrived in Patagonia in mid November, they were pretty lucky with the weather. A longer stretch of good weather enabled them to hike with all their equipment towards Cerro Torre and set up camp “Nipo Nino” and a bivouac on Col de la Patience, where the Compressor Route starts. The first free-climbing attempts also looked promising: David led the way up to the famous bolt traverse three times; twice having to turn around because of continuous ice avalanches, once because a storm almost blew them out of the wall.

Back in the base at El Chalten, David and Daniel had to wait for the next window of good weather on Cerro Torre. Killing the time with bouldering, hiking and meeting other climbers, they waited in vain for over six weeks. Every once in a while they made a desperate try and hiked in to camp Nipo Nino, where they saw that thick layers of ice and snow had been blown onto the vertical faces of Cerro Torre, making an ascent practically impossible.

David and Daniel had to face the worst case scenario: The good weather period they had had right at the beginning of the expedition looked like it would turn out to be the only one of the entire Patagonian summer. By then their dream of freeclimbing the “Compressor route” had come to an end; at least for this year. According to locals it had been the worst climbing season in 15 years.

From David’s perspective….
“From this year’s attempt on Cerro Torre I took home a lot of experience and memories of a world of mountains so majestic that you only realize how big they are when you leave Patagonia. It’s the dimensions that shift: The walls are higher, the storms more powerful and the experiences more intense. Walls we can only dream of at home aren’t even looked at over there, as they drown in the sea of gigantic mountains surrounding them.

I will return for sure. I’m not only fascinated by my goal of free climbing the compressor route on Cerro Torre, but also by the village of El Chalten and its surroundings. But now I need to settle back in at home and start preparations for the upcoming season. It’s only now that I’m back at home that I notice how much my time in Patagonia has influenced me…”

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David Lama’s free climbing attempt on Cerro Torre

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