Dan, how great that EP helped inspire your own Patagonian peregrinations! That’s exactly what that thing was intended to do, on one hand. And on the other, crack open the real alpine world for people in the general public whose attention had been captured by Into Thin Air. I think I did better with the first audience then with the second. Clearly, the mountain’s story continues regardless… it just is. It doesn’t concern itself with us. Whether for good or ill, time will tell. But I fear we’ve just added another chapter to the “infinite folly of man” story that was writ there by Maestri.

When I first started climbing in ’06 I was immediately captivated by the mountains and stories from Patagonia. In fact, your book was a major source of inspiration (and, btw, I identified with your early history at West Point, where I grew up). So inspired, my partner and I rallied, took two months, and climbed Torre Norte in Paine (Monzino and Taller del Sol) and Aguja de la S in ’08, with less than 2 years climbing experience.

Since that beginning I always admired Cerro Torre as an aesthetically ideal mountain, but wrote off climbing it. There was a nagging feeling in that back of my mind that my story on CT could never be a part of the mountain’s history–mine could never rival the Maestri story.

With the recent events on CT, I feel the mountain has new life. Now its history can continue.

Dan

Mick, can you link us to the news? (I’m traveling today and can’t search for it.)

Did he have the grace for finish his climb w/o destruction and clean up afterwards?)

PS: is this Gary & Tnoy’s dad?

Not so!

A week later the route gets free climbed by David Lama.

It’s a beautiful climbing saga.

All the best,

Mick

Herb, that’s pretty hilarious.

The tall guy (Kennedy and Kruk) walks into the midget crackhouse (Compressor Route) and starts taping crack to the ceiling then removing (chopping) all chairs and ladders (bolts) from the room, so that the midget crackheads (us) can’t smoke the crack (the route). The midgets are too short to reach the ceiling.

Herb, I’m not sure I get the room crackhead midgets analogy, but I certainly agree with the first part of your comment.