Aguja Mermoz and Torre EGGER report

Text and Photos Korra Pesce

When I left Chamonix for a trip to Patagonia a few people must have felt a lot of relief, the reason was simple, when five days before my departure I opened the for the first of a number of times the Meteogram for the weather forecast of Cerro Torre it showed a huge weather window , I almost fainted, it was supposed to last approximately until the moment I would  eventually reach El Chalten.

Chances  for another similar chance were slim at best. Landing in the tiny airport of El Calafate three hours of drive away from El Chalten I could finally see  again the fantastic mountains of Fitz Roy and The Torres . I imagined how cool would have been to be up there in perfect weather, but I could do nothing it was too late. The following day Manu Cordova joined me and immediately we went up with all of our gear to made a gear stash at Niponino Camp. After ten days of mainly bad weather we finally had a chance of climbing something on a windy day between two storms. We choosed to try Aguja Mermoz East Face via Andy Parkin route Vol de Nuit.

 It’s a nice line with a lot of mixed climbing and almost no ice. Conditions were not ideal but this type of climbing was one we were both  familiar with. We climbed the route adding a couple of variations that allowed us to reach the top of the mountain. Descending the route we had to cut a stuck rope and it was only after 17 hours  after our departures that we reached our snowcave at Paso Superior.  We descended by night to El Chalten and rested all of the next day. Another day of good weather saw us ready for action at Niponino.

Mixed ground on the lower half

Manu leading a tricky dihedral followed by a tricky tension traverse

Sometime weather end up being better than forecasted 

Manu follow up a awesome corner, with only a rack of cams it was a interesting pitch

The fantastic Goretta Pillar on Fitz Roy
climbed by Casarotto solo in 1979

Cumbre of Mermoz

Herron Egger Traverse

With Manu we choosed to climb Punta Herron and Torre Egger, a wonderful trip that will see us climbing rappelling and traversing for 23 hours. We had a early start and walked to Standhardt Col, we climbed the first two pitches of Exocet than continued all the long of the big ramp that slashed across all of the East face of Aguja Standhardt, climbed a couple more pitches than rappelled directly to the base of the magnificent Spigolo dei Bimbi on Punta Herron a few meters from Col dei Sogni.

 There we swapped ice tools for rock shoes and started climbing up this incredible route. The exposure the climbing and scenery were unreal, with the Hielo Continental behind us the Pampa and the huge lake Viedma on our left, steep compact rock  laden with rime formations and the odd mushroom above,

and off cours several hundred meters of steep mixed terrain below us.

The slabs of Sigolo dei bimbi in great conditions

One of the best climb in Patagonia

The rock was pretty clean of rime only a little wet and we made quick progress on Spigolo dei Bimbi. 

Manu leading the mushroom 

Next step Huber-Schnarf on Egger

A rest to melt water 

On the slabs of Torre Egger

Nice traverse under mushrooms

  The day was really hot and there was no wind at all. We stood atop of Punta Herron rappelled to Col de Lux and finally climbed to the top of Torre Egger via the Huber Schnarf, a route similar to the on we did on Herron supposedly there was an Italian route somewhere up there  by De Dona and Giongo but they left no sign of their passage up the compact slabs, Huber and Schnarf left a very limited amount of not that necessary bolts (not that leaving bolts must became the best option to leave proofs of an ascent, even more in Patagonia were bolts anyway tends to disappear mysteriously, indeed on this route De Dona and Giongo curiously left three bolts under the mushroom as a proof of their ascent no one ever found them...maybe they should have used Pezl anchors as the party  from 2005 did because they are very well visible. In the end is now called Huber Schnarf . Before this last route i managed to drop a rockshoe, Manu was kind enough to lend me his shoe and followed the sleep slabs in big boots!the mushroom was melting but we made it up. It was really a great feeling to be up this difficult mountain but the way down seemed ridiculously tricky. Patagonia it’s a test for anyone rappelling skills and rapping down Torre Egger is certainly one of the most complicated descent.

The caracteristic summit of Torre Egger aside of me

Cerro Torre upper north face upper tier of Ragni Route

Just below the col between Egger and Torre

Descending  the route we did, was simply out of question, descending the East Pillar was the preferred descent so far but we preferred descent the South Face to the col of Conquista then climb up one little pitch and rap down the east side of the col. We were now on one of the most legendary place of Alpine climbing. Like a sanctuary of alpinism. At our left was the Box placed by the British climbers that attempted in the late seventies the huge dihedral and the north face above us, it was destroyed by years of terrible storms.

The English Box at the base of one of the sickest line in Patagonia 

Rapping down the Colle della Conquista
the real conquest will be not to fuck up the descent

All around us were waste of ropes and gear from the many teams that attempted to climb Cerro Torre  from this side but  the most tangible ones were the imaginary footprints of the people that actually succeeded climbing this side of the mountains with a lot of bravery and little gear. I couldn’t avoid thinking about the pioneers of those places . Donini and Bragg , Salvaterra and Garibotti, Burke and Proctor, Ponholzer and Bonapace, the Slovenians…We reached the top of the lower dihedral not far from where, Toni Egger had his deadly accident . I can’t even imagine how badass must have been even trying to get up there in 59,  those people were visionary. All of those lines are from another world. We stood on the glacier below Cerro Torre by full moon. It’s over, but I already would like to get back  up. Descending  I can’t stop turning back and watch up those unreal walls. One hour later at midnight we crawled into our sleeping bags at Niponino. Today was a good weather day on the Torres. Today was a good day.

Aiguille du Peigne parete Nord, "Full Love" V,5+,M6 R,550mt

Aiguille du Peigne,parete Nord,"Full Love" V,5+,M6R

Photo Jeff Mercier

 L'autunno qui a Chamonix é iniziato nel modo più classico, con tanto maltempo a partire da metà settembre. Precipitazioni,pioggia a 3000mt poi neve a 1500 poi ancora pioggia e neve. Mentre moltissime persone abbandonano la valle per destinazioni più soleggiate, io ed il mio socio Jeff abbiamo iniziato la stagione di Dry Tooling clamorosamente presto. Il motivo di questo allenamento  é ben visibile dalla valle, sottili lingue di neve pressa si disegnano poco a poco sulle guglie di granito che strapiombano Chamonix. Un paio di idee per approfittare di queste condizioni le avevamo,e l'eccitazione data dal fatto di poter lasciare spazio alla propria creatività ha trasformato il tedio post estivo in carica pre invernale.Appena il tempo si é sistemato per qualche giorno siamo saliti alle Aiguille e ne é uscita una salita che ci ha dato una grande soddisfazione e qualche crampo alle braccia (Die Hard) . Questa salita sembra avere motivato parecchie persone a tirare fuori le picche.

Photo Jeff Jon dans L1

Photo Jeff. Korra suL2 

Il nostro amico Julien Désécures gran conoscitore del massiccio, come al solito si é presentato con un'idea geniale, tirare una via di misto sulla parete nord del Peigne una montagna che porta particolarmente bene il suo nome (guglia del pettine). Non si tratta certo di una montagna conosciuta per le sue vie di ghiaccio,piuttosto per le sue placconate scoscese e qualche zona di diedri e fessure, sopratutto la parete nord, dall'aspetto alquanto liscio. Mi sono sempre detto che qui a Chamonix se una porzione qualsiasi di una montagna cosi vicina agli impianti é ancora nel 2012 senza vie é che ci devono essere ottime ragioni per cui non ce ne siano . Diciamo che il piu delle volte una via vecchia  c'é già,il fatto é molte di queste sono praticamente sconosciute. Julien ci mostra il tracciato di una via aperta 45 anni fa da due britannici sconosciuti,Fullelove e Robertson, aperta quasi esclusivamente in artficiale con difficoltà di 6 grado e A3. Salire a distanza di 45 anni una via quel tipo armati di friends e picche/ramponi ci é sembrata un'idea geniale. Un'idea importata dagli scalatori anglosassoni per i quali una via di roccia poco gloriosa a causa della natura ed esposizione della via, magari all'ombra, umida, ed incassata tra profondi camini avrebbe potuto fare un'eccellente scalata su misto e ghiaccio. La Rebuffat Terray diventata Carrington-Rouse ne é un esempio. L'idea di Julien ci é piaciuta subito,ma al di la della fattibiltà della via restava da discutere la tattica, non una tattica per rendere il progetto piu facile,piuttosto per renderlo piu divertente. Per non doverci spartire la via in tre decidiamo di formare due cordate autonome, Jon Griffith completa il nostro team e farà cordata con me.Porterà buon'umore e le sue grandi qualità di fotografo. Un avvicinamento per dare un'occhiata alle possibili linee di salita ci é sembrato indispensabile saliamo dunque alla base della parete e gia che ci siamo visto che é difficile resistere alla tentazione anche scalare i tiri iniziali e fissare le nostre corde. Dal ghiacciaio immaginiamo una linea diretta e improbabile il fatto di essere in 4 ci distrae dai dubbi e l'insicurezza data da questa linea effimera placchette di neve dall'aria ben sospetta.

 Scaliamo fianco a fianco e ci divertiamo per bene. L'avvicinamento e ridiscesa al rifugio su pietraia e morena coperta da dieci centimetri di fresca  non sono stati certo dei più riposanti ed é con un certo piacere che approfittiamo del lusso del rifugio del Plan de l'Aiguille. Sveglia alle 4 e risalita della morena e delle corde,il fohn soffia piuttosto forte e qualche colata di neve rende il tutto un po piu serio.Eccoci ai piedi del bastione compatto e non ci resta altro da fare che provare a salire sperando che nessuna placca liscia  ci blocchi, e che i "placage" tengano, e di poter proteggere un minimo...alla fine é un po come un apertura,sappiamo solo che da qualche parte sotto la neve c'é una via di 6°grado e artificiale difficile.

Photo Jeff Mercier 

Photo Jeff

Parto in direzione di un diedro ghiacciato e lo raggiungiamo in due tiri molto belli. Ogni tiro portava le nostre speranze perché il sogno non si interrompa.Poca ricerca di itinerario la via sale su dritto fino in cima. Jon qui nella foto come sempre é di buon umore.

Photo Copyright Jon Griffith

Photo Copyright Jon Griffith

Photo Copyright Jon Griffith

Per fortuna si riesce anche a proteggere un po e riesco anche a trovare soste abbastanza decenti da ospitare fino a tre persone. Il diedro con lama di roccia sul lato é mitico. Il tiro seguente non é da meno.

Photo Copyright Jon Griffith

La lingua di neve si interrompe ma fortunatament un po di dry non ci spaventa mai. Una zona di placche si avvicinita e la pressione sale.

Photo Jeff Mercier

 Arriviamo dunque ai piedi di una zona di placche una fessurina diagonale sembra  riportare su un placage.Un po di neve in meno e tutto sarebbe stato ancora piu complicato,un'altro tiro d'antologia,

Photo Copyright Jon Griffith

Photo Copyright Jon Griffith

 Dopo questo tiro di misto un'altro diedro ghiacciato sembrerebbe portarci fuori dalla zona di placche e verso la parte piu verticale della parete.

Copyright Photo Jon Griffith

Photo copyright Jon Griffith

Copyright Jon Griffith

 Seguono due tiri di misto molto belli il primo con passaggi verticali con uscita su neve inconsistente. Il secondo é un'altro tiro da antologia 30metri molto sostenuti ,molto bello per nulla facile soprtautto una parte poco proteggibile ,qualche chiodo ci indica che non siamo i primi a passare da quelle parti molto piu probabilmente siamo i primi a passare in libera ed in ogni caso in modalità misto moderno.

 La via esce a qualche metro dalla punta del Peigne.Siamo scesi al buio per la via di discesa classica che consiste nel fare una doppia di 30 metri versante Cham dalla punta fino a una terrazza ,altre 3 25 mt fino alla cengia di quarzo versante Pélérins dopodiché si traversa all'orizzontale a mano destra 3/4grado fino ad una sosta da dove si fa una doppia di 60 o (più doppie corte) metri fino al canale che separa Peigne e Gendarme Rouge ,25 metri sotto il colletto (in estate si puo raggiungere il colletto con scalata e doppie corte molto in diagonale). Dal colletto scendere sempre lungo la via normale ovvero scendendo traversando nettamente a destra verso un gendarme que si lascia a destra poi in un canale per qualche decina di metri in seguito nettamente verso la sinistra al di sopra delle placconate fino al punto in cui si giunge alla cresta dei Papillons dove questa finisce contro la parte superiore del peigne. Doppi di 25 mt a sinistra lato AIguille du Midi 30 mt facili poi altra doppia da 30 si raggiunge quello che di solito in estate é un sentiero scosceso ,ometti, Scendere fino ad un balzo piu ripido traversare sempre su traccia a sinistra poi raggiungere il nevaio che fondendo ha lasciato 20mt di placche abbastanza difficili doppia possibile.
Gran bella uscita tra amici. Una via d'antologia tra le più belle e varie del massicio aperta in libera con due set di Cam BD dal 00 al 2 più un 3 , dadi,e pure una vite da ghiaccio. Lasciato in via un chiodo ed un dado.

4cordate su Beyond
Die Hard é gonfiata tanto che i ripetitori hanno fatto solo qualche metro in dry!!
Carrington Rouse, molto grassa e frequentata
Danno molto caldo i prossimi giorni se danno fohn forte non contate sulla prima funivia, il rifugio é ottimo e aperto ancora un po di giorni.
Ottime condizioni anche al couloir nord del Dru.
Fil a plomb formato avvicinamento brutto.

Aiguille des Pélerins NF Die hard Rep-a-Line

After a few weeks of mainly bad weather ,we assumed conditions on the mountains might be not too bad and were keen as usual to go Alpine.
Since we had not much good weather left we decided instead to go rock climbing at the Flames de Pierre. Basically is still early autumn and we have no idea of what is doable because nobody has been climbing mixed as far as we know. Indeed the clear past two nights made temperature drop a little bit, just enough to made the white slushy snow that plastered the North side of the Aiguille de Pelerins consolidate into some nice looking runnels. We were on our way toward our rock climbing destination but we couldn't stop looking in awe  the walls looming right over the trail at Plan de l'Aiguille. At some point we stopped and before giving it a second thought, decided to skip rock shoes with our tools and go mixed climbing.

The route we decided to try was the little known "Dard-Reppelin" a line that climbs directly up the steep shield of compact rocks just to the right of the famous "Beyond the good and the evil".
It's a old aid route climbed in 67 by Dard and Reppelin then repeated a few years later by J.M.Boivin and J.M.Cambon
Since then little or nothing is known about the route.We had this idea of giving a second life to this obscure route by making a mixed climbing out of it. It seemed to represent about all what we cheerish. Steep rock and ice,obscure line ,no information available,yet to be climbed free...After a quick  descent to the valley to get the necessary equipment we walked to the base to give the route a close look. Once at the base a large grin appeared on our faces, we were not at the wrong place! We couldn't resist the temptation of climbing up a couple of pitches so we fixed our two ropes before rapping down to the glacier.

We had a lot of options for bivy but we choose to descend to the boulders that cover the glacier a couple hundreds meters below.After a pretty chilly but comfortable night we started our climbing before daylight.

  

A couple of pitches later we started up a monster corner system,big surprise there was some pretty cool and steep runnels of snow at the bottom of the corner

Nice looking runnels

The following six pitches ranks among the most interesting pitches both of us have done on Alpine terrain. It's really a unbeliavable climb that should interest  mixed climbers.

A Jeff M7 is not alike those M7 claimed by some solo climber on a huge himalayan face 

We felt this route was more difficult than other super-classic overlooked routes and is definetely a testpiece of mixed climbing here in the Mont Blanc Range . Go for it!

Jeff belay from the top of a stiff section

Me Full-on climbing for 45 mt

I saw tons of climbers claiming hard mixed grades for any ridiculously poor outcrops on walls that might actually be skied. Sometime solo,at high altitude. C'mon. It's super lame. It take a few outings a year to transform any solid trad climber into a pretty good mixed-climber it's just about gettin used a little about handling tools. 

Jeff brandish his weapon

The  demanding climbing took the toll on us and we were somewhat relieved when the difficulty of the route mellow down a little once the corner system was below us. The remaining part was still awesome though.

We still had concern with the slabs on the top. From the photos we checked, it looked like the most delicate part. We were not sure it would go without a struggle. After so much of serious climbing we hoped to have deserved a bit of luck with conditions,it was right, most of the slabs were covered with good snow. In the end it was  after a total of 16 pitches that we topped out, a bit knackered, but happy. No words,no hugs not a special urge to escape the mountain,just a handshake and the cool feeling of a job well accomplished (the route went all free with zero pitons used,the most useless of all endeavours on a long alpine route,but is the only way we like, since we are living here year long) or anyway the part of the job that involve climbing up. We immediately started the tedious descent down the west flank of the mountain, the lower part was in awful conditions and we had to keep concentrate not to fuck up. Once we joined the trail we cache our bags and strolled down to Chamonix. On the way down after debating which route we would attempt next, we discussed the route and finally for fun we changed his name into Die Hard, Rep-a-line a fun word play, useless, like the climb we did, simply for the love of the game.The idea of transform a aid route in a mixed climb might seem foolish and also controversial when the aid route in question is a super classic and looks no way like a Alpine route. Old aid routes here sometimes happen to be fantastic mixed lines, with the proper conditions. we felt like we were climbing our own route up there also because the very limited amount of gear we found on route was useless. 

I cheerish the word play basically it represent my serious accident, most of us climbers at some point, have a bad accident a had a story about how hard could be to return as solid and motivate as before. This line represent what i wanted to be my return to Alpine climbing past accident.

Of course we don't expect anybody to call this line with another name than his original one. 

Dangers of being too Stoked

"After laughters, come tearz" (Wu-Tang Clan)
A few months ago standing atop of Cerro Torre summit mushroom i've had a strange feeling. A mixture of relief for having no more climbing left, surprise for being in a place i always dreamed to be, and the blessing of for once feeling simply lucky. All of those feeling were pretty unusual and i've raised doubts about how long luck would last. One hour later and fifty meters lower we were already in full-on survival mode, on bad weather, with 55meters of rope left,a empty backpack(all of his content was lost while hauling on the final pitch,the fact is that it was attached open and upside down...) and a very long way to go down. The phrase above from Ghostface Killa ringing in my head, i had to smile  at how things change quickly.
Two days later i was nursing a sore eye from snow blindness and a mild frostbite on my thumb both from the epic descent. The hardest was to cope with the frustration of missing a day and a half of good weather.
I thought that it was not too bad after all but sometimes i suspected i was not done with troubles...
Dec 26 Rive gauche d'argentière,i was on the stupid slab of the first pitch on (yet unclimbed) Nightmare Rex .It was dangerously covered with a lot of fresh snow. Couldn't see any good gear placement, we carried no bolts or pitons to open this mixed climb,  12 mt from the ground i contemplated jumping to the confortable crashpad of snow at the base. Instead i kept climbing, one meter later snow collapsed and i was sent to the base. I jumared the remaining of the day. Damaged rotator cuff on my right shoulder. One month of inactivity two more of pain and doubts whereas it would get better afterall...But then, a lot more of good climbing all winter,and good skiing,working,  good vibes too ,the shoulder was healing quite well...
April 4 Grand Montets . The end of the skiing season is close and i was relieved of finally taking over rockclimbing, also, skiing is something i don't really trust, too many small stupid accidents, too many people gone while skiing or having bad accidents. And it happened, again, white-out, catch a small rock with my skis, fall on my outstretched left shoulder. Rage, despair and little hope, this time is a lot more painful than last time, and last time it took months too heal. Damaged left shoulder's rotators cuff. Two months of inactivity. Still not fully recovered in september.
June 15 The shoulder got a bit better and finally i started climbing again.With PJ we climbed two days in St Leger, through pain, but, hell ,i'm climbing.
June 16 , hot temperatures drove us to go climbing some alpine multipitch in Vercors.
Happy to get back too the hills and those Prealpes are a pretty nice place... then it happened ,again.
I was on a long tiny ledge fifty meters above ground .The ledge is used for the approach,were it ends in the middle of nowhere, the actual climbing start. I was ready to climb and waiting for PJ to take me on belay when it happened, i don't know what happened but, PJ heard the noise from falling rocks then a few seconds later he saw my rope stretching toward the ground. I was unconscious during the 40 meter fall. Pj was unscathed, a bit scared though. His side of the rope was rolled around a number of boulders  the rope runned  beyond a huge flake and trough a runner i placed at the end of the ledge. That avoided a factor two fall that might have sectioned the ropes, my friend getting hurt, and myself falling the whole fifty meters lenght of the ropes. It was about the only positive news.
Off course i could have died or having to sustain even worse  injuries. Now is not like is the only and last accident i would experience in my life. Yes i'm lucky i can keep climbing, having injuries, repair from injuries.
Surviving the risks  life bring to our everyday life.
I would personally feel lucky if one day i will wake up and acknowledge that i'm not addicted to climbing anymore and being just happy with watching other people climb.
The fall resulted in losing conscience twice for a few minutes a broken nose, maxilar bone and a few missing teeth. A piece of my upper lip was hanging but still attached.I had a broken metatarsal on my right foot. Two fractures on my left wrist. The foot and wrist were a special concern for me. I made a living(as a mountain guide) and climb with my feet and hands certainly not with my face. It was a accident bad enough to feel the need of taking care of my  sorry ass instead of simply being angered with myself for the material issue of : not working ,not climbing and losing the chance of taking another trip to Patagonia. Later i understanded that the task it was not really underwhelming. After a week of nursing my wrecked mind and body, the idea of myself recovered in 45 days seemed not too stupid. Doctors suggested  a three to four months of inactivity.It actually took 50 days to get back to work (guiding up and down Mt Blanc). I slowly got back into shape and even buy my flight tickets to Patagonia against all odds and beyond reason.This time, recovery has been the most taxing of all the things i have done in my life. Now the season is over and the few days of rest that issued brought to me the pleasant feeling of having nothing broken in my body and after several months, virtually no pain. I went back to climb with Jeff at the drytooling crag of Eptingen . My shoulder still hurts but fuck it , i've learned to live with the pain and i accept it.
As long as i feel the pain i have nothing to laugh of, and hopefully... not Laughter, not Tearz.  

8926_Glacier d'Argentière Mont-Blanc massif dry tooling

Nightmare Rex, Video!!
Afin de présenter mon blog et mon activité voila une petite video signé TVmountain.
Nous sommes ici en rive gauche du glacier d 'Argentière,dans une voie qui compte sans doute parmi les plus démentes qui nous avons grimpé.