New 500-metre 5.11 C1 in Patagonia Follows Splitter Cracks
Veteran Patagonia climber and experienced big-waller Horacio Gratton first tried the face nearly 30 years ago
Photo by: Horacio Gratton
At the end of January, three Argentinian climbers established a new 500-metre 5.11 C1 up the southeast face of Aguja Saint-Exupéry in Patagonia which ends on Punta Cristina, the south summit
Horacio Gratton, Esteban Degregori and Pedro Odell called it El Zorro y la Rosa, and it’s clear from the photos that it follow some absolutely splitter crack systems. The final pitches are shared with the Austrian route. Gratton had first tried this section of the face in 1994 with Marcelo Galgher. That project was completed in 2020 by Slovenian alpinists Luka Lindič and Luka Krajnc and called Mir 5.12c A3.
The trio climbed 10 new pitches, bivied once and added a new, safer descent. Gratton and Degregori and both in their mid-40s, but Odell is only 18 years old. Despite his age, El Chaltén-based Odell has a lot of big alpine rock experience and recently completed another climb on Aguja Saint-Exupéry with the 750-metre 5.11 called Chiaro di Luna.
Scroll through the photos below to see how spectacular some of the pitches on the new line look. We’ve reached out to the first ascentionists and will update this story with more information soon.
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