Strong European Team Frees Big Wall in Patagonia
Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll, Siebe Vanhee and Nicolas Favresse have sent a El Regalo de Mwono up the east face of the Central Tower of Paine in Patagonia. The route is 1,200 metres and was first climbed in 1991 and 1992 by Simon Yates, Sean Smith, Paul Pritchard and Noel Craine at 5.10 A4, VI.
This big route climbs up next to Riders on the Storm, which has been attempted by a number of climbers as recently as this year. There The team climbed their free variation in between 20 and 25 pitches and graded it 5.13c. Of the 19 days on the wall, they had only three good ones to climb due to the weather. Sonnie Trotter ran into Favresse at the airport and bought him some apple pie.
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