Canadian Marc Andre Leclerc managed what would be the main event in most seasons by making an audacious solo ascent of “Corkscrew” on Cerro Torre. The route was first climbed in 2008 and takes in some staggering exposure near the top of Patagonia’s best known peak. Rolando Gariboti’s website Pataclimb – dedicated to all things Patagonia – described it as “by far the hardest route ever soloed on Cerro Torre”.
The main event of the most recent weather window wasn’t actually a complete climb, but rather an attempt. However, the route that Colin Haley and Alex Honnold were attempting was so outrageous, and they came so close to pulling it off, that they’ve been attracting a lot of attention just for trying.
In 2008 Colin made, with Rolando Gariboti, the first ascent of the Torres Traverse – a complete crossing of all 4 major peaks in the Cerro Torre Massif. Back then, the undertaking took them four days. At the time it was rightly hailed as a visionary achievement, way ahead of it’s time, but this year Colin and Alex tried to do the traverse in just a single day.
We spoke to Colin about the Traverse when he was in Chamonix last year and here’s what he had to say.
To even try to do this in one day, when even doing it in any time seemed almost impossible a decade ago, is staggering. Unfortunately the pair got stopped two pitches below the final summit, Cerro Torre itself, and after a pretty sketchy descent down the west face and a huge walk out, they got back to base camp 53 hours after leaving. Colin described it as ““Despite failing, it is probably the best day of climbing I've ever done in these mountains, and certainly the most epic experience I've had here.”
Honnold And Haley Attempt Audacious 1-Day Ascent Of Torre Traverse | EpicTV Climbing Daily, Ep.454
