Paine Central: The First Free Ascent of the South African Route
The team composed by Nico Favresse (Belgium), Sean Villanueva (Belgium) and Ben Ditto (USA), reached the summit of the Paine Central Tower on Torres del Paine, Chile. This happened at the beginning of this month (February 2009) while I was there doing some mild hiking in comparisson.
When I finished the hike from Bader valley towards the base of Torre Central with a couple of friends, we saw a group of climbers, we chatted for a while, I remembered that one of them was Nico, we just wish them good luck on their climb to the South African Route. And now, it turned out that their names are in all the climbing websites!
What is special about this climb?
That this is the first free ascent of the east face of the Central Tower. And it is only the third time that that route is repeated ever. The first ascent was in 1974 (by South Africans), the second in 2004 by another South African team.
They spent 13 days in the wall, climbing, hauling, singing, playing music, etc. in “an endless dihedral of about 1200 meters” with “some spectacular pitches up there on amazing granite with incredible moves!”. But for me, the most important thing they did was to enjoy the wall, enjoy the Patagonian conditions, and enjoy the company of those friends that you can only make when you climb, those to whom you literally trust your life.
Check some of their stories, pictures and videos on the expedition blog, I highly recommend it! It is so much fun.
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