Patagonia New Routing Continues

Patagonia, 2013, Cerro Marconi Central – La SuperWhillans

The season is off to its typical “old Patagonia” start, with extreme wind and weather. It has not stopped climbers from ascending a number of new lines. 

Colin Haley and Rolando Garibotti have climbed a new aesthetic, moderate route. The route is on Cerro Marconi Central, which is part of the Marconi peaks, a seldom visited area in Patagonia. The obviousness of La SuperWhillans speaks to the remoteness of the Marconi Peaks. This is Haley’s second new route of the season, the first being El Lobito on Aguja Volonqui.

From Haley’s blog: 
The climb is fun and aesthetic, and I would definitely recommend it to others, but I think it requires careful evaluation of conditions to make it a nice climb. More than anything else, it is worthwhile simply because the seldom-visited Marconi peaks are wild, beautiful, and much more “alpine” than many of the other mountains around. We have named the route “La SuperWhillans,” for it’s strong resemblance in form to Aguja Poincenot’s famous Whillans Ramp, and also a play on the local classic, “La Supercanaleta.” I would estimate that the vertical gain from the bergschrund to the summit is roughly 600-700 m, with difficulties of up to 70 degrees, and one pitch of AI3/M3.

Aguja Val Biois

On Christmas Eve, Haley and Joel Kauffman attempted the east chimney of Aguja Val Biois, but were turned around because of bad weather.