Arma de doble filo added to La Espada (Paine, Patagonia) by Sebastian Pelletti, Hernan Rodriguez

After Cuarzo Menguante on the east face of La Hoja in January 2022 and the first ascent of Cuerno Este in February 2022, Sebastian Pelletti's has deepened his understanding of Patagonia's Torres del Paine massif with his first ascent of Arma de doble filo on La Espada.

The Australian had noticed a line through this striking tower above the Bader Valley last November and after an aborted attempt with Chile's Hernan Rodriguez at the start of February, climbed the route with one bivy "making use of the last spell of high pressure" on 24 and 25 February 2024. The 800m climb tackles a direct line to the left of Under the Knife (Jimmy Haden, Sean Leary, Russel Mitrovich, 2000) and breaches difficulties up to 5.11+, A1. Arma de doble filo, Double-edged sword, as it has now been called, is only the 5th route on the mountain that was first climbed in 1972 by Tony Dick, Carl Fatti, Paul Fatti, Roger Fuggle, Richard Hoare and Michael Scott via the mountain's west face, and the second on the East Face.

After the successful ascent, Pelletti told planetmountain "Conditions were okay, a snow storm before the weather window meant that the lower portion was wet in some sections, but the upper headwall was bone dry due to its vertical nature. The face gets sunlight almost at first light, making it ideal for an alpine start halfway up the wall. On our first attempt during the first week of February it was quite windy and we could hear the wind ripping across the ridge, it sounded like an air force jet, but on the east face it was totally still. We bailed before the golden headwall on our first attempt, when we realized that the headwall would hold the most technical climbing and an incoming storm meant that we did not have enough of a margin to push for the summit and descend in time. During our ascent we placed no bolts, used some knifeblades on pitch 6 to protect the climbing and build an anchor. We left one birdbeak on route, at the crux of the headwall, here we relied on a short section of aid to overcome a hairline crack that later opened back up to fingers then hands. This pitch would probably go free at 5.12+, and protects quite well now with the birdbeak in place. We graded our ascent at 5.11+, there is alot of high quality 5.10 and 5.11 free climbing on most of the headwall."

For those interested in finding out more about the area, Pelletti explained "The Bader Valley is guarded by a beautiful lenga forest at its entrance, here lies the Welsh Camp, established by Mike turner and company, a climbers last refuge before venturing into the alpine. The valley is a cirque of big walls, Cuernos Este, Principal and Norte, La Mascara, Hoja and Espada all flank the western side, as the gigantic west face of Paine Chico and the seemingly unclimbeable South face of the South tower stand tall to the East and North. Chocolate flowers bloom amongst the glacial morraines, and milky blue lakes flood and pool through whats left of the glaciers. Silence is rare here, seracs collapse, morrain debris shifts and shudders, the head of the valley is constantly changing, and over the last 6 years climbing here the approach has never been the same from one year to the next. This valley can only be visited with a certified guide or a mountain climbing permit."