Patagonia's Cerro Torre Gets the Chop: Maestri Unbolted (Photos)

By David Roberts and Kathryn Sall; Photographs by Hayden Kennedy and Jason Kruk (seen here on the summit of Cerro Torre)

Read our follow up on David Lama's simultaneous first true free climb of Cerro Torre's southeast ridge.

On January 16, 2012, mountaineering history was made. The actors in the drama were two of the best young alpinists alive—a 21-year-old Coloradan, Hayden Kennedy, and a 24-year-old from British Columbia, Jason Kruk. Their deed took place on a savagely steep needle of granite and rime ice in southern Patagonia called Cerro Torre. Kennedy and Kruk knew that what they were trying to do was audacious in the extreme, but they could hardly have anticipated that it would trigger the most explosive mountaineering controversy of the last decade.

* * *

Although it rises to an altitude of only 10,262 feet, Cerro Torre has been called the most beautiful mountain on earth, as well as one of the most difficult. On the border of Chile and Argentina, the peak soars nearly 5,000 feet from base to summit. The indomitable French mountaineer Lionel Terray, who made the first ascent of nearby Fitz Roy, doubted that Cerro Torre would ever be climbed. The greatest Italian climber of his day, Walter Bonatti, failed on an attempt less than halfway to the summit in 1958.

Then in 1959, Bonatti’s bitter rival, Cesare Maestri, came to Patagonia to slay the dragon via its north face. His climbing companions were his fellow Italian, Cesarino Fava, and the Austrian Toni Egger, one of the outstanding ice climbers of his day. The three set out on their attempt and reached a gunsight notch that they named “The Col of Conquest,” 1,800 feet below the summit. Having agreed to act in only a supporting role, Fava retreated alone down to Camp 3. Maestri and Egger prepared an attack on the summit. Fava settled in to wait. After three days, gusts of warm air melted the ice near the top of the mountain and set loose colossal avalanches. After three more days without any sign of his climbing partners, Fava assumed the worst. On the sixth day, to his shock and surprise, Fava discovered Maestri, sprawled and helpless in the snow, a thousand feet from Camp 3.

Maestri had an extraordinary story to tell. After three bivouacs above the Col of Conquest, he and Egger had reached the summit of the mountain that Terray deemed impossible. But on the descent, an avalanche had caught Egger in mid-rappel and swept both him and the climbing rope off the mountain. With a desperate effort, Maestri regained the fixed ropes below the Col of Conquest. But just above Camp 3, he lost his grasp and fell. When Fava found him, he was barely conscious. Fava helped his exhausted teammate stagger the rest of the way down to base camp. With Egger, Maestri claimed, had gone the men’s camera, carrying the only documentary proof of the men’s landmark ascent.

Back in Italy, Maestri recuperated fully and boasted about his amazing climb. At first, the climbing world accepted Maestri’s account and showered the exploit with accolades. Lionel Terray called the first ascent of Cerro Torre “the greatest climbing feat of all time.” But doubts soon emerged. How had Maestri and Egger climbed so skillfully, especially given the horrendous weather? The sheer steepness of the final stretch above the Col of Conquest made the wall look unclimbable, even by the finest mountaineers of the day.

Once a pioneer of clean solo climbing, Maestri turned after Cerro Torre to a new style—bolting everything he touched—that only served to undercut his claim. After a crack British team failed even to come close to making the second ascent of Cerro Torre in 1968, the doubters came clamoring.

Today, Maestri’s 1959 “ascent” of Cerro Torre is widely regarded as one of the most blatant hoaxes in mountaineering history.

Gear Crush: Ladies, Here's Your Splitboard - Solution, Jones Snowboards

"From day one, the women have been screaming and yelling, 'Where’s our stuff?' And we’ve taken notice," said Jeremy Jones, who we recently interviewed about his snowsports alliance Protect Our Winters (POW) (follow POW on Facebook for informing and entertaining posts). "It’s really common to see a lot of women in the backcountry freeriding," he noted. "Women don’t have the as much as of a need to be in the park learning a new trick like a lot of men do. Women are much more comfortable with cruising the whole mountain and enjoying that aspect of snowboarding."

Thanks for noticing, Jeremy.

In fall 2012, Jones Snowboards will release three women's boards, including one splitboard, the Solution. It probably goes without saying that the construction and materials are identical to their men's boards, but the sidecut, flex, length, and waist width have been tuned to benefit a lighter, smaller rider. 

We admit, the Solution's Arctic Ocean map design drew us in like a magnet at Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City last week. Made for the complete big-mountain, trail-breaking backcountry experience, the early rise tip and tail will float on top even on the deepest powder days. Meanwhile the Mallow Magna traction on the inner and outer edges will keep you in control even on ice. It's identical to the Mothership, just split. Retailing for about $800, the Solution quickly pays for itself since you won't be buying a lift ticket. 

Jones Snowboards will have three women's boards are the Mothership, Solution, and Twin Sister this fall. Roxy and Gnu will also have new ladies splitboards.

So, ladies, see you in the backcountry. —Mary Anne Potts

Ski Touring the Tetons (Photos): Hiking Up, Shredding Down Teewinot, the Grand, Cloudveil Dome

Text and photos by Kim Havell, Salomon Freeski International Team

It was a slow start to winter for resorts in the U.S. In order to find snow in the early season, for many passionate skiers, it meant getting creative.

Based out of the Wasatch this season, due to drier conditions, I decided to drive north for four to Jackson, Wyoming, to poke around the Tetons for a few days. Jackson temporarily offered more promise with snow depths that prevailed over many other locations in the West. After some great days skiing at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, it was time to go exploring for some fresh snow in Grand Teton National Park.

With soaring peaks, protected canyons, and endless terrain possibilities, the park holds great promise for adventure. The 40-mile-long Teton Range is the youngest mountain chain in the Rocky Mountains with beautiful, jagged summits and long, aesthetic runs. This is a bountiful area for backcountry skiers.

Luckily, I was able to meet up with some expert local friends who accompanied me on a few fun backcountry ski tours. Steve Romeo, professional skier and www.TetonAt.com honcho, and Greg von Doersten, professional adventure photographer, both had time for some missions in the park.

Our team encountered a variety of conditions on our adventures with cold temps (-20F), big winds (50 mph+ gusts), and changing visibility, but we did find great snow on each excursion and that made the journey worthwhile. We skied lines off of three different high peaks: Teewinot, the Grand Teton, and Cloudveil Dome. Averaging roughly six to eight hours per route, we invested good energy in getting up high to scout out the best options for descent.

The first adventure took us to Teewinot Peak, which at 12,325 feet is the sixth highest peak in the range. The name of the mountain is derived from the Shoshone Native American word that means "many pinnacles." With a 6 a.m. start, after climbing close to 5,500 feet, we dropped into its southeast couloir for some soft, silky turns down to the lower apron. The remainder of the ski we were gliding through fresh powder to the valley floor.

What's Your Adventure Personality Type? Artisan, Rational, Guardian, or Idealist?

By Steve Graepel; Photographs from top courtesy Steve Graepel, Andrew Skurka, Rebecca Rusch, Michael Tobin

The zodiac, your horoscope, tea leaves...people have been trying to make sense of human attributes since the dawn of dirt. Corporations pay big money to navigate these muddied waters and will train employees to better understand personality types to harness them for productivity. I recently revisited one such matrix, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which hypothesizes that it’s possible to distill human characteristics into 16 personality types. David Keirsey later mapped these types into four general temperaments: the Artisan, Rational, Guardian and Idealist.

I jokingly wondered if these metrics have ever been applied to an expedition setting; exhaustion, hunger, and cold, wet conditions can quickly strip insulate layers of city life, exposing our reptilian ids. What may seems like "character" over coffee can reveal itself in spades below the crux. I began to contemplate my past adventures and consider what I could glean from temperament theory to apply toward my own trips. Here’s what I found. Keep reading for discussions with ultrahiker Andrew Skurka, mountain biker Rebecca Rusch, and veteran adventure racer Michael Tobin about their "types."

Outdoor Advice + Tips: With Liberty and Adventure for All . . .

By Contributing Writer Aparna Rajagopal-Durbin, Faculty member and Diversity & Inclusion Manager at the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)

As I head to the 2012 Winter Outdoor Retailer Show in Salt Lake City, where NOLS is receiving an Outdoor Inspiration Award for inspiring youth everywhere to pursue an education through a NOLS adventure, I am pondering what “adventure” really means, and what makes someone an “adventurer.”

When you think of “adventurer,” what do you picture? Me? I admit, I think of the image of a rugged leathery-faced mountain man in an old-timey wool cable-knit sweater, pocketed vest, and a canvas satchel replete with important adventure tools like a sextant, a treasure map, and a pistol. Clint Eastwood maybe? Or Harrison Ford? Oh, and he’s smoking a pipe.

What I don’t picture is the photo above. Yeah, that’s me on an adventure—35 days in the Wind River Range with NOLS. And I am pretty much the opposite of Clint Eastwood. I’m not leathery faced, although with age and exposure to the elements I’m definitely headed that way. But more important, I’m not white. And I’m not a man.

Skiing Video: Trust in the Guardian - Salomon Freeski TV - “Selkirks Touring”

By Kim Havell

When you are skiing powder in Canada’s Selkirk mountain range, Research and Development is a very good job. Companies often want to see how their prototype product works in the field, so somebody’s got to do it.

In the sports realm, team athletes are often called upon to use and critique their gear for feedback, improvement, and development. This was the case for skiers Chris Rubens, Elyse Saugstad and I in the Selkirks this past March 2011. Our mission was to put Salomon Freeski’s new ski binding with touring capability to the test. After two weeks of hammering it in the big mountains, we were thrilled with the performance of “the Guardian."

Video: John "Verm" Sherman's Tips From the Updated Better Bouldering Book

John "Verm" Sherman invented the V grades in rock climbing, mastered 20,000 bouldering problems over 37 years, and wrote the book on bouldering. Here he talks about the updated Better Bouldering, now in its second editions.

And if you are going to Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City this weekend, he will even sign a copy for you at the Falcon Books booth from 4 to 6 p.m. on the 20th. And let you cut in line at the keg.

Read our interview with him on climbing the Strike in the Needles of South Dakota.

Videos: Stuff Outdoors People Say, Bro - Which is Your Favorite?

We gotta give these guys points for creativity and keep a straight face—all in good fun and great for a laugh. Which is your favorite? It's a tie between the skiing and climbing for us.

Skiing


Climbing

Shit Climbers Say from Louder Than 11 on Vimeo.

Kayaking


Snowboarding

Your Adventure Civic Duty: Vote for the People's Choice Adventurer of the Year (Last Call)

We are down to just a few days left to vote once a day for your favorite Adventurer of the Year. On January 18 at midnight, we will have a new People's Choice Adventurer of the Year. We'd be thrilled if any of the twelve nominees won. So far the race has been tight! It's possible that the standings could change over the weekend, if people really come out and rock the vote every day. As a member of the greater adventure community, it really is your civic duty to thrown down your ballot (once a day) until the voting is done.

As a brief refresher, here's a look at each adventurers' video clips. Hiker Jennifer Pharr Davis, who set a new overall record on the Appalachian Trail, and kayakers Jon Turn and Erik Boomer, who completed the first circumnavigation of Ellesmere Island, were so consumed by their challenges that they did not shoot video. That in itself is pretty bad ass. Mountaineer Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner's footage will be shown in conjuction with an upcoming article in National Geographic magazine.

Who will be the People's Choice? You decide.

Vote Here

Microadventure 8: River Swim from Alastair Humphreys on Vimeo.

COLD - TRAILER from Forge Motion Pictures on Vimeo.

Danny Macaskill: Industrial Revolutions from Cut Media on Vimeo.

Brain Farm - The Art of Flight Trailer from Brain Farm on Vimeo.

SOLITAIRE: A Backcountry Skiing, Snowboarding, and Telemark Film from Sweetgrass Productions on Vimeo.

Extreme Photo of the Week: Ice Climber Chad Peele on First Ascents in Norway's Fjord Country

Photograph by Celin Serbo, see more in our Extreme Photo of the Week

Adventure: Where were you climbing in Norway?
Chad Peele: This shot was in a valley outside of Eidfjord.

A: Norway is pretty sweet for ice climbing (or so we hear from Will Gadd who put this area on our Adventure Bucket List). Would you agree?
CP: Yeah, Norway is awesome for ice climbing! The glaciers of past carved such a labyrinth of fjords which hold plenty of water and just the right temperatures to form long flows of ice.

A: What were you thinking in this moment?
CP: I'm sooo cold!

A: Why does the ice look golden like that?
CP: I'm not exactly sure why this ice had that golden color, but typically frozen waterfalls will change colors depending on the minerals and sediment in the water.

A: Tell us about this route?
CP: We climbed this route in three pitches, probably totaling around 500 to 600 feet. By most standards, it was not an incredibly difficult route with a rating around WI4-4+, but it was so cold that day that everything felt so much harder! We thought that calling it "Goldmember" after the Austin Powers movie was a fitting and humorous name.

A: How do you scout first ascents? Both in terms of finding them and planning your route?
CP: Scouting and researching for first ascents relies on a lot of local word of mouth concerning where people have been climbing and where people have not travelled to. To be honest, it takes a lot of walking around with binoculars in the cold and can be quite tricky sometimes.

A: How long have you been ice climbing? How'd you get started?
CP: I first learned to ice climb in Alaska with St. Elias Alpine Guides in 1997 and have kept it as a winter sport/winter work ever since then.

A: What's next for you?
CP: Right now I'm ice guiding in the San Juans of Colorado while waiting for more snow and planning my upcoming Alaska and Washington state mountain guiding season.