SAMAYA x FRANCESCO RATTI
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF RENATO CASAROTTO
Francesco Ratti, Alessandro Baù and Claudia Mario have fulfilled a childhood dream: to climb Fitz Roy via the Gorettan Pillar, opened by Renato Casarotto in 1979. For Samaya, Francesco recounts the beauty of this trio ascent.
"This was the third time I'd been to Patagonia, and I was determined to carry out new projects on these spectacular mountains.
It's a place with many particularities, the first being that we're not staying in a base camp, but in the village of El Chaltén, a comfortable, civilized area. As soon as you venture outside the village, you find yourself immersed in the wilderness, and safety takes on a different dimension: approaching the mountains can take more than a day, we need satellite devices to keep in touch with the world, and any rescue is very complicated as no helicopter flies easily in this area.
Patagonia's mountains are for the most part magnificent granite spires set amidst gigantic glaciers. All the walls are steep, and climbing them is always very technical and difficult. That's what makes me love this place so much.
Patagonia lies in the southern hemisphere of the world, close to the Pacific Ocean and not far from the South Pole, making the weather quite unpredictable and one of the windiest places on the planet. This year, I went there from mid-December to mid-January with the aim of climbing Fitz Roy, the highest mountain in the range.
I benefited from rather good conditions, as the granite walls were quite dry and the snow cover on the glaciers quite thick due to a snowy Patagonian winter that left the glaciers in good condition. The big challenge was to find a favourable weather window to attempt our main objective: the ascent of the Goretta pillar on Mount Fitz Roy. As this is a long and difficult climb, you need at least 3 to 4 days of good weather, and in Patagonia, such a weather window is not so frequent.
We were patient and towards the end of the year, we saw an opportunity. The only uncertainty was the wind: it wasn't impossible that it would pick up before the end of the climb and force us to back off before reaching the summit.
We gave it a go, the wind was favourable and we managed to climb the Casarotto route on the Goretta pillar, reaching the summit of Mount Fitz Roy on December 31! What a great way to end the year. This route was opened in 1979 by one of Italy's greatest mountaineers: Renato Casarotto. It represents a milestone in the history of mountaineering. It was incredible to climb it, and to understand just how difficult the ascent had been with the old equipment: Casarotto was truly a master! In fact, he named the north pillar of Fitz Roy after his wife, Goretta Traverso, who always followed him on his expeditions and always waited for him at the foot of the mountains.
The climb lived up to my expectations: steep granite walls with perfect cracks! During the climb, I felt a mixture of pure pleasure at the incredible views and uncertainty about the weather forecast. We stayed focused and climbed as fast as we could to reach the summit before the wind picked up, which was the key to our success.
On a long, difficult climb, I always have doubts. Doubts about the conditions we might find, doubts about the weather (in this case, big doubts) and, in general, doubts about any unexpected event that might cause problems or even force us to backtrack. I overcome all these uncertainties by concentrating on the climb and making every move as efficiently as possible to save time and energy to overcome any problems or unexpected events.
Bivouac was a key element of my project. On the approach to Fitz Roy, we slept in our Samaya RADICAL3 tent. It was essential to get the best comfort from the tent's light weight, in order to save as much energy as possible for the climb. During the climb, we decided to carry just one Samaya NANO BIVY to move around quickly and save weight and volume. This choice of equipment was perfect for giving me the right protection with imperceptible weight and volume in my rucksack.
The best moment was undoubtedly New Year's Eve, spent in our Samaya NANO BIVY, during the descent from the summit of Fitz Roy. We had run out of food, but celebrated by sharing our last energy bar. There was such a spectacle in front of us that we forgot how hungry we were!
This project means a lot to me, because the Fitz Roy was a childhood dream. Climbing it via the Casarotto route makes it even more special. This climb has confirmed my view that lightness is essential in Patagonia and, on these mountains, even a little weight can make the difference between success and failure."
