Fitz Roy - Southeast face
1. French route
1.1 Franco-Argentine
650m 6a A3 55°
Guido Magnone and Lionel Terray (France), 2/2/1952.
Description. The route meanders up the line of least resistance on the right flank of the south buttress. A capable team should be able to climb it in one day from La Brecha. Many sections of this route have been repeated hundreds of times, but it still awaits a complete second ascent!!!
History. This was the first ascent of the peak. Magnone and Terray, with the help of Marc Azéma, Louis Depasse, Rene Ferlet, Louis Lliboutry and Georges Strouvé (France), and Francisco Ibañez (Argentina) fixed ropes on the approach gullies and on the initial 120 meters before completing the ascent in a two-day round trip from La Brecha. Jacques Poincenot was also part of the expedition, but he died before ever setting foot on the mountain while he attempted to cross the Río Fitz Roy. Most of the credit of the first ascent went to the “more famous” Terray, but in fact it was Magnone who “put the hammer down” so to speak, and made the ascent happen. On day two, as clouds rolled in, Terray expressed doubts but Magnone begged him for a “couple more hours” and lead on, climbing the last few pitches as fast as he could and finding a miracle piton at the bottom of their pack. Magnone and Terray tackled the route with a large amount of hardware, pitons mainly, but saved weight by not taking any bivouac gear. They managed to move fast by placing and leaving pitons, without taking the time to remove them. In this way they managed to climb up and down in a short three days. The idea for the expedition was from René Ferlet, after having come across the striking images of Cerro Fitz Roy in De Agostini’s book “Andes Patagonicos”.
Marc Azéma describes in these words the importance of their ascent: “L’événement a détruit toutes les légendes et dépasse tout entendement”, certainly this must have been the impression that Andreas Madsen and some of the other inhabitants of the area had at the time, upon seeing their magnificent peak finally climbed.
Guido Magnone commented on the weather and conditions encountered: “Impressionnés (...) et sous le coup de nos expériences récentes, nous imaginons très bien les difficultés qui nous attendent. Mais la réalité dépassera de loin notre imagination”.
Approach. Río Blanco to Paso Superior to Brecha de los Italianos to La Silla. Getting to La Brecha involves a fair amount of climbing and can be done a number of ways: via the classic couloir leading to it (6 pitches mixed), via a line to the far left, either right or left of the obvious serac or via the rock spur just left of the couloir (Roberta Nuñez –Brazil- and Jose Pereyra –Venezuela- 10 pitches to 6a). It is also possible to approach la Silla from the Torre valley via the Poincenot couloir, but this is a fairly dangerous (serac) and time consuming alternative.
Pro. Standard rack plus 5 to 10 pitons?
Descent. The preferred descent route would be along the Franco-Argentine route.
Bibliography.
Alpinism 99 p.31-32; Alpinism 100 p. 38-50, p. 72; (21); La Montagne 1952/358 p.58-66; Paris Match 164, 3.5.1952; Terray L. (1961) Les conquérants de l’inutile, Gallimard, Paris (p.488-506); Terray L. (1995) Les conquérants de l’inutile, Editions Guérin, Chamonix (p.406-419); Azéma M.A. (1954) La conquéte du Fitz Roy, Flammarion, Paris; L. Depasse (1953) Al Asalto del Fitz Roy, Ediciones Peuser, Buenos Aires; CAB anuario 1953 p.5-11 (Ibañez); Magnone G. (2005) Sculpter de Cimes, Arthaud, Paris (p.95-121); Berge der Welt 7/1952 p.71-78?. AA Lliboutry a.23 #248 p.8-9 1952; a.23 #246 p.3-4 1952.
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Photos (click to enlarge)
Fitz Roy east face 
Fitz Roy southeast face
Brecha east face
Brecha west face 
Brecha topo 
French and Franco-Argentine topo |
1.1 Franco-Argentine
650m (250m new) 6c+ (6a/A1) 55°
Alberto Bendinger, Eduardo Brenner, Marcos Couch and Peter Friedrich (Argentina), 10/3/1984.
Description. This is a short variation of the French route and is the “normal” route up Fitz Roy. It is a very direct and logical line. The Argentine variation branches off the original French route after the third pitch, and follows a steep dihedral, rejoining the first ascent route after five pitches.
From the top of the third pitch of the French Route climb two mixed pitches up and slightly left, to reach the base of a steep dihedral (2 pitches 5+/A1 or 6b+) leading to “La Araña”, a spider shaped snowfield half way up the southeast face. Continue up for two more pitches, climbing an icy chimney full of loose blocks and a narrow thread of snow to reach the ridge. A few moderate icy pitches give access to the upper headwall. There are a few possible variations in this upper section, all equally difficult. Most parties climb left of a prominent prow, but it is also possible to climb to its right. The last 200 meters are not difficult (45°), but require crampons and ice tools.
This route is often climbed in one day from Paso Superior, although unplanned bivies are common. There are many suitable bivouac ledges en route.
History. This route is commonly known as the Franco-Argentine route, as it shares a lot of common ground with the original 1952 route. The first ascent party fixed ropes on the approach gullies and on the first 60 meters. They worked partly as two independent teams, until their final attempt when they decided to join forces. During an early attempt Peter and Alberto managed to reach “La Araña”, but where forced to retreat due to bad weather after a cold bivouac, while Marcos and Eduardo spent hours digging their equipment cache buried under heavy snowfall. During the second ascent, in 1985, M. Graber, G. Rowell and D. Wilson (USA) made a slight variation, branching left from the original line two-thirds of the way up, following a line that they hoped would be easier, but was not.
Solo ascents. Miyazaki Motohiko (Japan), in 12/2/1994 ascended alone, but rappelled with two other climbers. The first unsupported solo was done by Cristoph Hainz (Italy) the 24/12/1994 in only nine hours from base camp. He carried a single 50 meter rope, which he used to self belay on six occasions, three cams, three quickdraws and four nuts.
Winter ascent. Paolo Crippa, Dario Sprefacio and Danilo Valescchi (Italy), 5 to 8/8/1988, this was the second winter ascent of the peak.
Pro. Two each camalots to #2, one each camalots #3 and #4, nuts.
Descent. Rappel anchors are in place along the line of ascent. It is possible to descend this route with a single rope, but it is not recommended.
Bibliography.
First ascent: Desnivel 14 p. 48-51.
Rowell: AAJ 1986 p. 97-100
Motohiko: High 142 p. 41.
Hainz: AAJ 1996 p.237; High 152 p. 14.
Crippa: Revista della Montagna 108. |