SAMAYA X COLIN HALEY
SOLO ASCENT OF THE FITZ ROY BY ITS NORTH PILLAR
More than forty years after Renato Casarotto, Colin Haley has in turn marked the history of mountaineering. In September 2022, he successfully completed the solo ascent of Fitz Roy via its northern pillar, in alpine style, unlike his predecessor.
A great lover of Patagonia, he used to spend three to four months a year in El Chaltén, a small Argentinian town and the perfect starting point for any expedition to Fitz Roy, an emblematic massif on the border between Argentina and Chile. Colin knows Fitz Roy like no one else and explains to us that " it was [his] fourteenth ascent of Fitz Roy and the one who held the record before [him] is a resident of El Chaltén, who climbed it eight or nine times " .
For Colin Haley, this expedition will be the most significant of his months spent in Patagonia. Pensive eyes and a smile on his lips, Colin tells us about his adventure, proud and happy.
“How to describe this feat? I would say this is the first solo, alpine-style ascent of the Fitz Roy via its northern pillar, Goretta (named after Renato Casarotto's wife), which is a lot of words. Usually, when you need so many words to describe a first ascent, it's something stupid. But actually, I think it was a very nice goal. It takes so many words to designate this climb because the first ascent of the North Pillar was made by Renato Casarotto solo, which represented a mythical feat in the history of mountaineering. It is a pillar of 1500 meters, extremely steep. The idea was to follow in Casarotto's footsteps, but when he made the first solo ascent he used fixed ropes and so spent two months climbing the ropes, descending, ascending. Climbing in alpine style is still a real challenge, even today. ".
The expedition begins with an approach walk and setting up base camp at the foot of the Fitz Roy routes. The heaviness of the backpack imposed by a solo expedition, as well as Colin's desire to preserve himself, pushes him to carry out this approach walk in two days instead of one, contrary to his habit.
Shortly after midnight, after sixteen hours of climbing, he finally reached the summit. The weather, mild until then, begins to turn. Fearing gusts of wind, Colin hastens to organize his abseiling descent, lit only by his headlamp. Safe on the way back, the weather confirms that it was time to go home. "The lenticular cloud of the 'smoking mountain' on the Fitz Roy confirmed my choice to have launched myself into the ascent the day before", he confides to us.
He reached his base camp at the foot of Fitz Roy, tired and confused by this exploit. His sensations will inhabit him for a few more weeks, then will be replaced by great pride and the dream of a new expedition.
Before leaving Patagonia, Colin and Tyler, his friend and climbing partner, attempt the ascent of El Corazon. After thirty lengths, the two climbers are forced to give up. The weather conditions having greatly deteriorated, it became too difficult and dangerous to cover the remaining four lengths. Enough to make the two mountaineers want to return to the region to complete this unfinished ascent.
©Photographs by Colin Haley
