Aguja Bifida - South summit - East buttress

7. Cogan

7.1 Alternate start
7.2 Siren to Cogan

700m 6a 40˚

Paul Bruckner and Georg Shöerghofer (Austria), 19-21/2/1993, to where their line joins Cheoma, 100 meters from the top. Crystal Davis-Robbins and Nico Gutierrez to the top, in 2008.

Description. Climbs the spur of the east buttress of the South summit. The 24 pitches to where it joins Cheoma, 100 meters below the top, go mostly free and involve some mixed climbing.

History. The first ascentionists retreated after joining the Cheoma because they found severely ice up cracks. They bivied twice on the route, once ascending and once descending. The route is named after the “bad” knight in the movie Highlander, the Kurgan. It is unclear if the name Cogan is a misspelling by the first ascensionists or if it is misspelled on purpose or it might be the german translation. Georg Shöerghofer was killed in the late 1990s. He had visited the Chalten massif many times.

Davis-Robbins and Gutierrez repeated the route with some variations in 2008. They climbed the route in one day, rappeling through the night, finding difficulties to 6c and A1.

Approach. Niponino.

Descent. Via the same route. Bring a lot of cord!

Bibliography. AJ 1994 p. 281; High magazine 131 p. 17; Desnivel magazine 86 p. 99.

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7.1 Alternate start

Five pitch alternate start climbed in 2/2019 by Jonathan Griffin, Tad McCrea (US), and Luis Scheinkman (AR). They called their variation "Hermanos de Leche".

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7.2 Siren to Cogan variation

Six pitch variation climbed in late 2018 by Oriol Baro, Jonathan Larrañaga (ES) and Juan Canale (AR).