From the 9. February to the 3. March 2018 spent Silvan Schüpbach and Matteo Della Bordella in the Chilean O'Higgins National Park to climb the remote mountain Riso Patron. The mysterious mountain on the western edge of the southern ice sheet Patagoniens has hardly been visited by mountaineers.
A report by Silvan Schüpbach
The style of our expedition was "by fair means": we wanted to reach the base camp in the Falcon Fjord by kayak from 100 kilometers distant Puerto Eden - the next inhabited settlement. Once in Puerto Eden, we fought with permits through the offices of the Navy, police and National Park. Finally, we were able to at the 10. February let our kayaks into the water. Thanks to favorable weather conditions, we reached our base camp three days later.
Rainforest destroyed by Tsuniami
At Fonrouge Bay, where our base camp was located, we made a disturbing discovery. The otherwise omnipresent, dense rain forest was completely destroyed on an area of about two square kilometers. Icebergs and dead fish were up to one and a half kilometers from the sea inland. Apparently a tsunami had raged a few days before our arrival.
A lot of time to discuss possible routes and strategies
The bad weather left us plenty of time to discuss possible routes and strategies. As we held out the last storm and the weather was going to be acceptable for a day and a half, only one route was in question: Because of the many ice and snow we decided to climb the obvious ice ramp halfway up the southwest face.
On the 23. February finally started. Moderate mixed terrain with some difficult rope lengths led us to the ice ramp. Some steep "ice fungi" to 90 ° offered great climbing. After 12 hours, we stood on the summit and enjoyed the breathtaking views of the Patagonian inland ice. After a bivouac in an ice cave below the summit, we first descended over the south ridge and then roped off over the west wall.
Back at base camp, we made plans for more climbing. Unfortunately, no other fair weather window was predicted. After we got our material at the foot of the mountain, we started the return journey by kayak. Due to the strong wind, we wrestled for every meter and reached Puerto Eden after five days.
Routes Information King Kong
Riso Patron Sur (approx. 2350m), King Kong, 900m, M7 +, 90 °, 23.02.2018/XNUMX/XNUMX, Silvan Schüpbach & Matteo Della Bordella
—
Credits: Picture and text zVg