SAMAYA x FRANCESCO RATTI
FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF RENATO CASAROTTO
Francesco Ratti, Alessandro Baù, and Claudia Mario fulfilled a childhood dream: climbing the Fitz Roy via the Goretta Pillar, opened by Renato Casarotto in 1979. For Samaya, Francesco recounts the details that make this three-person ascent so beautiful.
"It was my third time in Patagonia, with the desire to carry out new projects on these spectacular mountains.
It is a place with many unique characteristics, the first being that you don't stay in a base camp, but in the village of El Chaltén, a comfortable and civilized area. As soon as you venture outside the village, you are very quickly 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 stay in touch with the world, and any rescue is very complicated because no helicopter flies easily in this area.
The mountains of Patagonia are for the most part magnificent granite spires rising amidst gigantic glaciers. All the faces are steep, and the ascent always proves to be very technical and difficult. That is why I love this place so much.
Patagonia is located in the southern hemisphere, near the Pacific Ocean and not far from the South Pole, which makes the weather quite unpredictable and makes it one of the windiest places on the planet. This year, I went from mid-December to mid-January with the plan to climb the Fitz Roy, the highest mountain in the range.
I benefited from rather good conditions because the granite walls were fairly dry and the snow cover on the glaciers was quite thick due to a snowy Patagonian winter that left the glaciers in good shape. The big challenge was finding a favorable weather window to attempt our main objective: the ascent of the Goretta Pillar on Mount Fitz Roy. Since it is a difficult and long ascent, you need at least 3 to 4 days of good weather, and in Patagonia, such a weather window is not that common.
We were patient, and towards the end of the year, we caught a glimpse of an opportunity. The only uncertainty was the wind: it was not impossible that it could pick up before the end of the ascent and force us to retreat before reaching the summit.
We took the chance, the wind was favorable, and we managed to climb the Casarotto route on the Goretta Pillar, reaching the summit of Mount Fitz Roy on December 31st! What a beautiful way to end the year. This route was opened in 1979 by one of the greatest Italian alpinists: Renato Casarotto. It represents a milestone in the history of mountaineering. It was incredible to climb it and understand how difficult this ascent must have been at the time with older equipment: Casarotto was truly a master! Furthermore, he named the north pillar of the Fitz Roy in honor of 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: very steep granite walls with perfect cracks! During the ascent, I felt a mix of pure pleasure in the face of the incredible views and uncertainty regarding the weather forecast. We stayed focused and climbed as fast as possible to reach the summit before the wind picked up, which was the key to our success.
During a long and difficult climb, I always have doubts. Doubts about the conditions we might find, doubts about the weather (in this case, major doubts), and, in general, doubts about any unexpected event that could cause problems or even force us to turn back. I overcome all these uncertainties by focusing on the climb and by performing every movement as efficiently as possible in order to save time and energy to overcome any problem or unexpected event.
The bivouac was a key element of my project. During the approach to the Fitz Roy, we slept in our Samaya RADICAL3 tent. It was essential to achieve maximum comfort through the tent's lightness in order to save as much energy as possible for the ascent. During the climb, we decided to take only a Samaya NANO BIVY to move quickly and save weight and volume. This choice of equipment was perfect for providing me with the right protection with a weight and volume that were imperceptible in my backpack.
The best moment was undoubtedly New Year's Eve, spent in our Samaya NANO BIVY while descending from the summit of the Fitz Roy. We were low on food, but we celebrated this climb by sharing our last energy bar. In front of us, such a spectacle was coming alive 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 ascent confirmed my view that lightness is essential in Patagonia and, on these mountains, even a small weight can make the difference between success and failure."
