0810, Rognon, Torres del Paine. Day 14, and hopefully our 3rd climbing day. I hand over the binoculars to Ronald, and thwarted by clouds that surround the Central Tower, he tries to get a clue where to go next. We see about four pitches of fixed lines and a haulbag, left by Martin and Gerke after two days of work in the face. We should see some bolted belays above it, but we don't. Scanning the face from left to right, we sometimes discover abandoned fixedlines or a short schling. But no placement seems to make sense. The line Gerke and Martin have climbed so far seems pretty logic, though they never found a single bolt, peg or other kind of fixed gear. So?

1120, pitch 5 of RitS, Torres del paine. The weather is still unsettled, where to climb next is still a wild guess, but I am ready to climb. Ronald and I agreed that straight above us, about 50 or 60 metres up, a small incline could be a stance. On the other hand: it could be not.. As for my favourite saying is "there's only one way to find out.." I start climbing into a world of slabs and poor placements covering the unknown grounds above me. I feel good though, and I climb with great confidence the grounds that don't seem to exceed grade VII-. The juicy beats of 'Groove Armada' echo through my head, pushing me a bit when tricky technical movements scare me off. This is awesome. This is both climbing and adventure. I realise that this is what I have been looking for in my life.

"whihaaa. First bolted belay!" I shout to Ronald far below in full excitement. Well, at least one bolt anyway.. I feel the excitement on his stance as well. This means we have finally found our route, which is very important, as technical difficulties will increase with every pitch from this point onwards. Gerke and Martin, following us through their binoculars down from the rognon below, recieve the good news by walkie-talkie and start cheering in a way we can easlily hear them without one. It's great being here with the four of us.

1530, belay 5 of RitS, Torres del Paine. After what looked like forever, I have placed a second bolt for the belay, and Ronald has organised and replaced some fixed lines below. Now that he joins me on the belay, we are badly surprised by the hour, and figure if climbing the next pitch now makes sence. It lookes like a great VII grade crack, unfortunately iced up a bit. There we have both grown cold, and the wind starts to increas in force, we decide to organise things for tomorrow, rather than climbing the crack now.

1915, Advanced Base Camp, Torres del Paine. Strolling back into ABC, after 12 hours of work, we are not disappointed by the fact that we have made so little progress today. In fact, we are all extremely excited that we know we're on the right track now, and difficulties can be expected accordingly.

Back in the tent, sheltered for the wind, Gerke hands me over another MRE we flew in from the Netherlands. Hmm, lovely. "Hans, your nasi-saté's are excellent!"

back to expeditions

welcome to friday 21st of january