09/03/2017
**** Ascent of the majestic East Ridge of Cerró Grande **** 24 Feb 2017
Following 3 unplanned sunny days, we decided it was time to head back for a new adventure in the massif. Our rock skills aren't at the level for the area, therefore we focused our energy on a majestic snow and ice ridge to summit Cerró Grande at 2,751m. Views from the top is said to be amazing on all El Chaltén range and moreover on Hielo Continental, time to see it by ourselves!
Pictures available HERE: https://www.facebook.com/748551408632492/photos/?tab=album&album_id=823390681148564
Day1 - Late start and short afternoon walk allowed us to reach the bivvy Arroyo Solo on the side of Laguna Torre with majestic view on Cerró Torre and glacier Grande. Main challenge of the day is crossing of the river using flying fox, without a pulley it does require arms strength! Clém is feeling sick and weather deteriorate, we fall asleep pretty early.
Day2 - No stress, we are on holidays! Thus leaving camp at 11am, we quickly move away from marked tracks to attack the climb of scree slope on the moraine side. This allows us to gain over 1,200m altitude and to reach, with glacier equipment, the Paso Túnel (1,940m). Clém is fully recovered and we are pretty excited by the surrounding environment! A quick recco at the base of Cerró Grande confirms that it is a nice piece of mountaineering and that a good overnight freeze would be welcome to safely progress.
Our tent stayed in the valley, the goal being to bivvy few hours; a bergschrund appears the best spot to protect from cold wind. We spend over 1hour terracing a nice comfy spot before dusk and cold settle. Protected from the wind by our ice rim, we are still exposed to the sky and hopefully as predicted it didn't rain that night!
Day3 - Summit day! Wake up at 3am, it take us a staggering 1:30 to get fully ready... Wind is stronger than expected and by the time we reached the 1st 55° slope, wind blast are strongly challenging our balance. By 6:30am before starting the ridge section, element are really violent and safe decision is taken: we go down in the last crevasse to wait protected from the wild wind.... LONG and extremely COLD wait that makes us wonder "What the f*** are we doing here"... Seeing the light of the town in the far background make me wish for a cosy warm bed....
Finally once sun set and the wind ease, Clem convinces me to give a second go at 8am. Full on energy we make a continuous push without break and eventually reach summit by 9:30am (2,751m) 😀 Staggering views are our reward; nothing is as beautiful as the huge Hielo Continental surrounded by majestic peaks! Pleasure is of short duration as we have to head down before ice transform in a snowy dangerous element. The last 100m traverse is the pinnacle of the climb with an exposure over 2,000m on a razor blade ridge: mind blowing😨 Wind is still strong and the rope between us is drawing ellipse in the sky, pushed by upfront continuous blast.
By the time we reached back the crevasse that welcomed us earlier, we are joined by a party of 2 Argentinians on their way up, cool mates and incredible meeting here! Last bergschrund is pretty wide open and requests and un-academic jump. Relieved to be on a safe and easy glacier, end of the day is an easy down climb with regular over the shoulder look at this amazing line we just climbed.
We reach early our tent still on the side of Laguna Torre. Later that evening Kim and Daniel shared the spot with us on their way back from a successful ascent of Cerró Torre... Amazing performance at another level!
Day4 - Quick trip back in the valley to reach El Chaltén before the bad weather settle.
