The Belgian Sean Villanueva and the American Jon Griffin succeed in the first ascent of a new Kingline on Fitz Roy. El Chaltenense is arguably the longest and most sustained off-width route in the world.
500 meters of climbing and difficulties up to 7a had to be conquered on the multi-pitch route La Chaltenense on the south face of Fitz Roy. The line shares the first two pitches with the Colorado Route and then goes straight up.
Hundreds of meters of pure off-width crack
The heart of the tour are eight pitches of pure off-width climbing, which Sean and Jon demanded full physical effort. Compared to Patagonia Vertical, Sean said with a wink that he had fought to the limit of his strength in certain places and acidified muscles that he had never known before.
Once I slid a few inches down the crack, was completely out of breath and tried desperately to wedge any part of my body into the crack. No matter if foot, knee, leg, arm or chest. Some muscles that I didn't even know existed were totally acidic.
Sean Villanueva
Minimally equipped - slight frostbite
The two climbers started the route at 07.30:03.40 a.m. and reached the summit at XNUMX:XNUMX a.m. Since they only had one sleeping bag with them and had neither a tent nor a stove in their luggage, Sean Villanueva and Jon Griffin only rested a few hours on the summit before descending via Franco Argentina.
Name for route in honor of the town of El Chalten
As the route name, the two chose the name of the place El Chalten, where the majority of the guests in Patagonia live. Sean Villanueva as well as Jon Griffin have been in El Chalten for around a year and chose the route name in honor of the place and the local population. This designation is a clear contrast to the existing route names on the south face of the Fitz Roy, such as California, Washington, Colorado, Canada and Britain.
The Topo of the route El Chaltenense in the south face of Fitz Roy (Patagonia) it gives up www.pataclimb.com.
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Credits: information based on Patagonia Vertical / Rolando Garibotti