Colin Haley climbed the landmark 5,000-foot route final week, alone, in winter. Sitting in El Chaltén with a foul case of existential doubt simply 5 days beforehand, he didn’t suppose he’d do something however sport climb for the remainder of his journey.
Editor’s notice: This text was initially revealed on Explorersweb.
Beneath a blazing sundown on the Patagonian winter night on Sept. 19, Colin Haley stood on the summit of Fitz Roy alone. Recalling the second later, after the conclusion of a mind-bending solo effort that just about didn’t occur, he wrote that he “felt very, very distant from the whole lot.”
Understandably so — nobody had ever carried out what he’d simply carried out.
That night time, the American alpinist grew to become the primary climber to solo Fitz Roy’s “Supercanaleta” (1,600 m, 5.9, WI4, M5-6) in winter. The enduring route costs the deep gash within the 3,405m tower’s West Face. The climbing just isn’t overly troublesome, however the route size and potential for rock and ice fall introduce severe overtones.
So do the final a number of hundred meters, the place a collection of gendarmes guard the summit.
If you wish to know the way gnarly the “Supercanaleta” will be — particularly climbing it alone in winter — simply ask Haley. As he wrote on his weblog, he has tangoed with it a number of instances all through his lengthy profession, attaining various levels of success.
He first climbed it 15 years in the past with Canadian alpinist Maxime Turgeon. That outing resonated in Haley’s reminiscence because of a “depressing” pressured bivy. However it didn’t cease him from making the second-ever solo ascent of the route 2 years later in 2009.
Lastly, he speed-climbed it with Alan Wyatt in 2016, capturing the primary one-day ascent of Fitz Roy within the course of.
So Haley arrived for his goal this 12 months on the “Supercanaleta” ready, or as near it as he might get. The psychological side of the problem additionally weighed closely on him. He was intimately acquainted with the grave penalties of a mistake.
“I in all probability know the route higher than anybody, however nonetheless, my most up-to-date ascent was 6.5 years in the past, and the route is 1,600m tall, so I hardly felt like I remembered it nicely,” he wrote on his weblog.
“Two different climbers have fallen to their deaths climbing solo on the route, and I’ve had the disagreeable expertise of coming throughout each of their our bodies, so the lethal penalties of constructing a mistake whereas soloing the ‘Supercanaleta’ are grimly seared in my reminiscence.”
From Haley’s exhaustive account, it’s clear that the climb pushed him to the brink.
First Strive Shuts Haley Down Chilly
Haley arrived for the try in El Chaltén on Aug. 29. Then he began ferrying masses as much as Piedra Negra, the place he would depart a gear cache for the push. He would velocity solo the route, trying to climb and descend all 3,000+ m in a day.
His first appropriate climate window opened on Sept. 12. Bitter morning temperatures hampered Haley whereas he kitted out, however he began up the “Supercanaleta” anyway.
For 300 m, he climbed “simple” snow. Then the snow cowl waned, revealing a skein of unyielding, grey ice.
“Regardless of being technically simple, all of the onerous ice made the couloir drastically extra tiring and time-consuming than in typical summer season circumstances, when it’s crammed with snow and névé,” he wrote.
“[Although] I wasn’t shocked by the troublesome circumstances, it wasn’t till 4 hours after crossing the bergschrund, and a humongous quantity of front-pointing and axe-swinging, that I arrived to the Bloque Empotrado, and the beginning of the extra technical climbing.”
Haley proceeded methodically to a key rappel location, arriving at about 2:30 p.m. He thought of his choices, however the promise of frigid in a single day temperatures pressured a retreat.
“With the winter temperatures, I knew that I couldn’t danger being excessive on Fitz Roy in dangerous climate. It was fairly clear that the one cheap selection was to bail,” he wrote.
However as a result of the night solar was drenching the gully under, protecting it heat, there was no have to rush. So Haley maintained his publish for a couple of minutes — and entertained sufficient existential dread to make him doubt whether or not he’d come again to attempt once more.
“I spent half-hour pondering life, climbing, the individuals I really like, soloing, ambition, danger, and the will to remain alive. I felt as I’ve many instances earlier than, that what I used to be doing was ridiculous and too irritating and scary to be pleasurable. Already earlier than establishing the primary rappel, I assumed it was most unlikely that I’d make one other try. In truth, I concluded, as soon as once more, that it was time to place onerous, solo alpinism behind me,” he wrote.
An extended, nerve-wracking rappel ensued amid frequent rockfall. So did an arduous pack-out again on the gear cache, the place snow blew so onerous that it broke Haley’s tent poles and crammed his jacket pockets. Lastly, “torrential” rain soaked him to the bone on the hike out.
El Chaltén: Regroup or Retreat?
Haley was demoralized.
“It was notably heinous as a result of I hiked out with all my tools and, due to this fact, a really heavy pack, assured not solely that I wouldn’t make one other try on the Supercanaleta however that I wouldn’t do extra solo climbing on the journey in any respect.”
Intent on some fair-weather sport climbing along with his accomplice, Alisa Owens, he dumped his saturated gear in El Chaltén and tried to overlook concerning the “Supercanaleta.”
However then the clouds parted, and he began to recollect it. Haley recalled serious about outstanding German climber Reinhard Karl, who in 1982 endured an epic try so repugnant he buried his climbing gear within the snow and walked away.
Contemplating that and the enhancing climate, Haley thought he may not be so badly off in any case. A recreation acquainted to many climbers thus started: rationalization and compromise.
“Simply the day after returning to city, I began to consider the Supercanaleta once more. I thought of how I might enhance my technique and rationalized that it wasn’t so dangerous up there. It quickly grew to become clear that one other spell of excellent climate, the truth is, a a lot better spell of excellent climate, was on its approach. Inside a few days after returning to city, I started to pack and plan for one more try.
“On the morning of Sept. 17, I used to be mountaineering again into the mountains.”
‘Frenzied’ Climb, ‘Anxious’ Summit
Haley began up Fitz Roy underneath strikingly related circumstances to his final try simply 5 days earlier than. He crossed the bergschrund on the head of the glacier round 7 a.m. once more — doing so as a result of he knew the route would get afternoon solar. He discovered roughly equal circumstances on the primary 1,000 m of climbing, although a bit extra snow adhered to the onerous grey ice above.
Then he reached his earlier excessive level quarter-hour sooner than he had earlier than. Although he nonetheless felt intimidated, that night time’s forecast gave him a greater outlook for climbing the difficult gendarmes.
So he determined to go for it.
“I used to be in a kind of centered frenzy for this complete part of the climb, shifting as quick as I felt I safely might, however having to take a number of care in lots of locations and a number of time in a number of locations. On some sections, there was a bunch of rime plastered to the rock, which made progress gradual, however in different places, the rock was almost naked, which was very advantageous.
“Because the solar was dipping to the west, it was filtered by way of low clouds above the South Patagonia Icecap and made for completely attractive surroundings. I completed the final troublesome pitch at 20:05, simply because it was getting darkish,” he wrote.
A few of the onerous, tenuous grey ice nonetheless lurked above, and Haley charged up it, although the considered downclimbing it made him reluctant. Nonetheless, he reached the highest of Fitz Roy at 9:23 p.m.
“[I] might see the lights of El Chaltén 3,000m under. I puzzled if anybody down on the town was exterior taking in some contemporary air and may see my headlamp,” Haley wrote.
He didn’t linger on the “very, very distant” outpost for lengthy.
“I felt extraordinarily anxious concerning the descent and began down only a couple minutes after arriving on the summit,” he wrote.
Satisfaction From Inside
An extended however incident-less rappel adopted. Haley lastly reached his tent at Fitz Roy’s base round 5 a.m., “extraordinarily wasted bodily, mentally, and psychologically.”
He concluded his lengthy weblog report 2 days later, on Sept. 22. In it, he acknowledged that he nonetheless felt the consequences of his extended publicity on the “Supercanaleta” — and affirmed that he’s elementally happy along with his effort.
“I nonetheless really feel fairly bodily drained from the climb, nonetheless considerably sleep disadvantaged, and definitely nonetheless in a daze from the expertise. There isn’t any one pitch on the ‘Supercanaleta’ that’s extraordinarily troublesome or harmful, however the size of the route, having to be in a hyper-focused state continuous for 21.5 hours, and doing all of it within the chilly and solitude of winter made it a really intense expertise.
“I do know from the depth of my expertise that it was fairly darn badass, and I don’t want exterior affirmation to verify that to me,” he wrote.
He concluded by thanking the people who supported him on the mission. Most significantly, he stated, “for encouraging me to purchase the ticket and take the possibility.”
