Video Patagonia: watch Imanol Amundarain, Cedar Christensen, Tyler Karow repeat South African Route on Torres del Paine

In January 2023 Imanol Amundarain, Cedar Christensen and Tyler Karow pulled off a team-free ascent of the South African Route on the East face of the Central Tower of Paine in Patagonia, Chile. They spent a total of ten days on the wall after an initial two days of fixing ropes from the ground.

Established by Paul Fatti, Roger Fuggle, Art McGarr, Mervyn Prior, Mike Scott and Richard Smithers during the 1973/1974 season, the 1200m route was originally graded A4/5.10. After a repeat in 2003 at the hands of a South African team, it was freed at 7b+/5.12c in 2009 by Ben Ditto, Nicolas Favresse and Sean Villanueva.

Despite their "typical vigilance" for going light, Amundarain, Christensen and Karow opted to "splurge on quite a few luxuries including excess amounts of wine and a mini cast iron oven that they used to bake muffins, empanadas, and pizzas daily while living in portaledges."