Two years after the first free ascent of the legendary Riders on the Storm route on Torres del Paine's Central Tower, Stefano Ragazzo accomplished the impossible: the first solo ascent of the route. The Italian spent 15 days alone on the wall, tackling technically very challenging sections, terrible weather, and a problem with frostbitten toes. Ragazzo climbed from February 21 to March 7. "For the first time in my life, I fought for something more than just the summit: for my life, or rather, for the constant thought, the desire to return to my girlfriend's arms," Ragazzo confessed on social media. "This thought kept me alive and was probably the main reason I can write these words now."

A Most Challenging Route

The Riders on the Storm route, first climbed in 1991 by Germans Kurt Albert, Bernd Arnold, Norbert Bätz, Peter Dittrich, and Wolfgang Güllich, is a 38-pitch, 1300-meter line on the east face of Torres del Paine's Central Tower in Patagonia. The route's difficulty is rated VI 5.12d (European scale 7c), A3. Frequent rockfall and icefall significantly increase the danger. The route includes a complex section using ITO, followed by a large pendulum across a smooth wall on pitch 16, and a huge overhang on pitch 26. In the 35 years since the first ascent, the route has been repeated only three times. Only a powerful team consisting of Sean Villanueva O'Driscoll, Nico Favresse, Sibbe Vanhee, and photographer Drew Smith managed to finally climb it free. All this suggests that the route is challenging enough to deter many top teams. A solo ascent seemed impossible.

Miraculously Avoiding Death

Report

Central Tower of Torres del Paine, "Golazo" Route, 6B, 2007

Passport

1. Technical category
2. South America, Chile, Patagonia
3. Summit: Torres del Paine, Central Tower
4. Route: via center of the eastern wall ("Golazo"), Second ascent
5. Cat. complexity 6B
6. Elevations: