Marc-Andre Leclerc Makes First Winter Solo of Torre Egger, Makes History

Rolando Garibotti has reported on his Patagonia Vertical Facebook that Canadian Marc-Andre Leclerc has made a 21-hour round-trip first winter solo of Torre Egger in Patagonia. This is the second winter ascent. Leclerc has now soloed all three summits of the Torre group. He soloed the Corkscrew Route on Cerro Torre a year ago and before that Tomahawk on Aguja Standhardt. Be sure to visit Garibotti’s page here for more updates. Watch this short EpicTV film featuring Leclerc after his Cerro Torre solo.

Leclerc attempted Torre Egger about a week ago and turned around 200 metres below the summit. Leclerc has pushed the limit of Canadians in the alpine with his bold solos. This year, he made the first solo ascent of the Emperor Face on Mount Robson in the Rockies, a fast solo of Andromeda Strain, soloed a number of WI6 ice routes, mixed routes on the Stanley Headwall, sent new hard alpine rock routes in B.C. and sent hard pitches on Baffin Island. And the year isn’t over.

'I just returned to a quiet El Chalten after an attempt to solo onsight, the East Pillar of Torre Egger in winter. I began climbing Saturday but was slowed down by heavily snowed up rock and thin ice conditions. Yesterday I reached a point near the top of the headwall, about four pitches below the summit where I made a second bivouac only to awake at 5 this morning to heavy snowfall. I made the quick decision to descend and rappelled nearly the entire pillar through heavy spindrift and at times whiteout conditions. Regardless of the near miss, I am happy with the effort and look forward to a second round!' #arcteryx #lyofood #dmmclimbing

A photo posted by Marc-Andre Leclerc (@mdre92) on Sep 13, 2016 at 6:34am PDT

Back at my tent in the Torre Valley, looking a little beat up after rappelling the East Pillar of Torre Egger alone in a winter storm. Can't wait to go back! #arcteryx #lyofood #type2fun

A photo posted by Marc-Andre Leclerc (@mdre92) on Sep 14, 2016 at 7:20pm PDT