Cerro Torre, A Mountain Consecrated - The Resurrection of th

I’m a little saddened that opportunity isn’t in the world any longer.

Did Cassin make as big of a mess on the Walker Spur as Maestri did on Cerro Torre? For instance, can you stand in one spot and clip in to a half-dozen different fixed pitons on Cassin's route? (the only pictures I've seen of the Walker Spur are from the Colton-McIntyre route). That being said, it's extremely impressive that Charlet and Croux tried to climb the route free without pins in 1923. Also, the distinction between summiting and not summiting a "route", although seemingly lessened in modern times (although Denis Urubko takes that viewpoint to task in the latest issue of Alpinist) is pretty significant when we are talking about making the first ascent of an actual mountain.

On an attempt on the Compressor Route we have climbed to 4 pitches from the summit and found the bolt ladders an abomination and sacrilege.

A few evolving observations after thinking about this more.

It’s been stated that this was done “to show respect to the mountain”. If this is a matter of man-made devices left behind: I think most everyone is in agreement that 400 bolts was beyond excessive and poor style. But the new route added five more, and the belay bolts and other fixed gear will never be gone unless they are all chopped and the last guy jumps off with a wingsuit. So while chopping may have improved the hardware quantity situation, the simple truth is that as long as we keep climbing it, the mountain can never be restored to its “pristine” state. If this is a matter of style and culture: many indigenous cultures consider climbing certain mountains BY ANY MEANS AT ALL to be “disrespect”. I doubt any of the climbers involved in this feel this way about the hallowed Torre nor would they feel bound to honor such concerns if they were applied to the Torre by the Mapuche, for example. In other words, what one person calls “respect” may be, and often is, another person’s travesty, and when it comes to such trivialities and contrivances as style in climbing mountains, I don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest all such notions are constructs of various egos and personalities and nationalities, especially noting the absurd locals vs. Italians. vs. Americans.vs. Argentinians arguments that are sprouting up here. If it’s a matter of difficulty: it seems like this is the particular form of respect being promoted here, that we “respect” mountains by rising to meet their challenges as closely as possible with the minimal amount of gear and artificial means. Fair enough, in fact, right on, I’ve always tried to embrace that myself.

However, the mountain does not think or care what we do. It’s a mass of rock. It’s not alive and it’s doesn’t relate to us. People, however, do care, do live, and do relate. So talk of “respect”, I think, must necessarily include a human component. One could argue, accurately, that erasing the Maestri route in the face of the existence of a demonstrated alternative now forces the climber to rise to a new challenge in order to succeed on the Torre. This is a good thing! However…to play devil’s advocate, one could argue that by leaving the old route in place, one could have presented a far greater challenge to future alpinists: to choose for themselves to undertake the more aesthetic, more technical (and not substantially moreso, from the sounds of it), and more logistically challenging line. I believe- perhaps naively so- that had this been done, the climbing community would have come to accept the “southeast ridge” route as the proper line up Cerro Torre and would have not only shunned the bolt line in favor of the variations, but would have considered future ascents of it to be illegitimate. And in the process, the human component of respect would have been honored by leaving the old line in place and satisfying those who treasure its historical value.
Instead, that choice has been made FOR everyone, forced upon them, by a handful of individuals, and, additionally, there are now a lot of very angry and upset people. This issue was greater than any one group of people, it wasn't up to a small group of climbers any more than it was up to the "locals" to decide. Nobody owns the mountain. So I don’t think chopping this route has made the world a better place, it has merely satisfied the values of one group. In showing “respect” for the mountain (as defined by some) there has clearly been DISrespect shown to many persons. It also seems like there is a real concern among some in this debate of the mountain being summitted by people who didn’t “earn it”. I would certainly agree that Maestri insulted the climbing community with his creation, but I don’t begrudge the people who repeated his line. I have the choice to honor, or not,what someone considers an accomplishment, but in the greater scheme of things it does not offend my sensibilities or invoke any sense of outrage that people have stood on top of the Torre by way of bolts. That was their choice to engage it, it added no additional litter to the mountains, it (on one level or another) gave people an adventure, it does not affect my choice to climb a more difficult and aesthetic line if I so choose, and any outrage I would have ultimately is a problem of my own ego. I am pretty sure the Torre isn’t offended either, since it does not have a brain. Crouch put it perfectly: the Torre itself holds “titanic indifference” to it all.

Personally, I don’t mourn the loss of the route, it is gone and in the long run people will get on with it and rise up to the southeast ridge. As I pointed out above, I deliberately chose not to attempt this route on my own trial with the Torre. My choice, made without judgment towards those who chose the Maestri instead. In the meantime, though, all this chopping has done really is to create an unnecessary conflict. We have much greater problems in the world that would be worth putting our energies towards, folks. Moreover, with serious access issues bearing down upon us as climbers, this makes us look pathetically weak and disjointed as a community.

I think they forgot to take this with them.