Cerro Torre 50

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Cerro Torre. 50 years since the first ascent

Against the backdrop of destructive world news and global insanity, in Argentina, unnoticed by non climbing society, an event of a different order has occurred. It was the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of Cerro Torre.

The summit of Cerro Torre on a rare day of good weather in Patagonia

On January 13, 1974, climbers Daniele Chiappa, Mario Conti, Casimiro Ferrari and Pino Negri from the Ragni di Lecco group climbed the most inaccessible mountain in the world - Cerro Torre. Years later, this route along the western face was recognized as a first ascent.

In artistic form, this important for climbers event was reflected in the plot of the movie “The Scream of a Stone” (1991, Werner Herzog).

A still frame from the movie Scream of the Stone about the first ascent of Cerro Torre

Argentina climbing community celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of Cerro Torre on Saturday, January 13th. Hard to believe be half of century has passed since the opening of a “new era” in the complexity of technical mountaineering routes.

The route on Cerro Torre, known as “Ferrari route”, also has the official name “Ragni Route”, did not immediately submit to the pressure of the climbers. The first attempt to climb this line to the top of Cerro Torre was made by Walter Bonatti and Carlo Mauri in 1958, but they had to start their descent about 400 vertical meters below of the summit. The reason for the failure was the too high complexity of the monolithic rocky terrain and lack of equipment.

At the base of the ascent route to Cerro Torre

In 1970, Carlo Mauri returned again as leader of an expedition to the foot of Cerro Torre. A team of 8 climbers, including Casimiro Ferrari and Pierlorenzo Acquistapase, in very difficult weather conditions (characteristic of Patagonia) was able to advance another 200 vertical meters from the place where ended the previous unsuccessful attempt to climb Cerro Torre. However, it was not possible to reach the summit this time either - the height of the unclimbed part of the route was still approximately 250 meters.

On the Cerro Torre climbing route

In December-January 1973-74, the Ragni di Lecco Group, consisting of 12 of the strongest climbers, spent two months in El Chaltén with the aim of doing another attempt to climb Cerro Torre along the side of Western Face. The expedition took place literally at the limit of its capabilities. Half of the group was forced to abandon the route due to dwindling food supplies. They left the route so that the remaining strongest participants had the opportunity to continue the ascent. All these inhuman efforts, risks and hardships culminated in victory on January 13, 1974, when for the first time a person set foot on the incredible Summit of Cerro Torre.

Final part of the route to the top of Cerro Torre along openwork ice couloirs

The lie of Cesare Maestri. At the time of its realization, the Ragni route was not recognized as a first ascent of Cerro Torre. In addition to the Ferrari route, two more routes competed for this honor, the ascents of which were claimed by the Italian climber from Trento, Cesare Maestri.

Famous Italian climber Cesare Maestri

The first of these controversial routes on Cerro Torre was dated 1959 (a year after the first attempt done by Walter Bonatti and Carlo Mauri). The route line supposedly ran along the imposing northern wall. Cesare Maestri claimed that in an attempt to climb Cerro Torre, in which the Austrian climber Toni Egger died, they reached the summit. However, decades later, the fact was finally proven that they did not even come close to the summit.

Base of the Cerro Torre face

The second route, also claimed by Cesare Maestri, was laid in 1970 and became known as the “Via del Compressor”.

A controversial fact about this route on Cerro Torre is that it was originally just a long bolted path created using a compressor hanging on the wall. However, this line of bolts ended well below the Summit. Actually, the truth of the “Compressor” route is that it did not let the crazy Italian climb to the top. According to Maestri himself, he had less than 60 meters left to the top before he had to start his descent.

Maestri's compressor on the face of Cerro Torre

Only in 1979, Americans Jim Bridwell and Steve Brewer completed this controversial project and put the bolts higher to reach the summit dome. For many years, the Compressor route was the most "accessible" route to Cerro Torre, used by the majority of climbers of this really difficult mountain.

Plenty of bolted belay points on the Cerro Torre route

The Compressor route on Cerro Torre disappeared in 2012 when Hayden Kennedy and Jason Crook removed most of the bolts after climbing Cerro Torre without using them. That caused massive controversy and conflict throughout the global climbing community, as one of the brightest episodes of the “bolt wars”.

Having destroyed the route and closed the path to the top of Cerro Torre for most people, these "route cleaner" climbers called their version of the route Filo Sureste.

Summit of Cerro Torre

Author of the text and (some) photographs - Alex Trubachev
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