Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum

A place for Victorian climbers to hang out and chat about climbing. Anyone can register and post messages.

Climbing News

[ Add ]

7-Sep-2006

Winter attempt on Fitz Roy's Supercanaleta
Tim Billington and Mat Farrell recently returned from a winter expedition to Fitz Roy (3441m), Patagonia.

They enjoyed near perfect weather and were able to make a reasonable attempt on the Supercouloir, which dominates Fitz Roy’s West Face. Due to route finding difficulties they were unable to summit and had to descend, having reached a high point of approximately 2900m.

The climb itself went remarkably well following several days of load carrying equipment and supplies to the foot of the route. The pair ascended steep ice and snow for 19 hours before bivouacking at approximately 2750m on a 1m X 2m ledge at 3.00am. The next morning they continued to ascend the Supercouloir until they realized that they should have taken a parallel line several hundred meters below. They retreated off the route due to lack of time. This involved abseiling 1200m back to camp.

Their second attempt was marred by heavy snowfall. This was the worst of the weather encountered, but enough to thwart the attempt.

Tim and Mat used their remaining time to attempt Exocet on Cerro Stanhardt (2650m). However, their access was cut off by a crevasse maze.

Surprisingly, there were no other climbers in the region to enjoy the brilliant winter conditions.