Nicolas Favresse, Sean Villanueva climb new route on Cerro Standhardt in Patagonia
Copia link
1 / 8
Nico Favresse, Sean Villanueva
Matteo della Bordella had indicated it while reporting about his recent new route on Cerro Standhardt with Matteo Bernasconi and Matteo Pasquetto: on the summit the three Italians bumped into two Belgians, namely Nicolas Favresse and Sean Villanueva who had just completed a new route on the same mountain. Favresse and Villanueva climbed a new line up the southeast pillar of Aguja Standhardt starting, as Rolando Garibotti explains, to the right of Motivaciones Mixtas before crossing it and tackling the obvious steep pillar on the left. Having breached difficulties up to M3 and 7b, all climbed onsight except for one which was climbed second go, they then followed Exocet and reached the summit after two bivouacs on the face. Favresse and Villanueva are no newcomers to Patagonia having spent considerable time in particular in the Paine area, and while Villanueva had pulled off the first Belgian ascent of Cerro Torre with Stephane Hanssens in 2012, this is Favresse’s first major summit in the El Chalten area. Here’s his report, for more technical details about the ascent check out Garibotti's Pataclimb post below.
El Flechazo on Cerro Standhardt by Nico Favresse
The season in Patagonia has been really rough out here. We’ve been spending most of our time in town bouncing between bouldering, yoga classes, jam sessions and BBQ parties. It's a tough life out here, especially the more town folks one gets to know, the more summits there are to celebrate! At least the occasional weather window puts us all back on track to a healthier lifestyle in the hope of being as strong as possible and float up our dream lines!
During the last weather window we had a chance to climb a beautiful new line on Cerro Standhardt. We had plenty of ideas in mind but the snowy and icy conditions forced us to review our plans and look for the driest and sunniest piece of rock available. That's how we ended up choosing the line we climbed, and it turned out great!
We spent two nights on the wall in ultralight Grade 7 equipment inflatable portaledges (thanks to Roger Schaeli who let us use his) which were absolutely amazing to have! They allowed us to have the comfort of a portaledge but without the inconvenience of its weight, bulkiness and difficulty to rig. It made the climb much more enjoyable and gave us the chance to stop climbing whenever we wanted to and enjoy the exposure from a comfortable hanging cocoon!
For me it was the first time I stood on the top of any of the Torres! I had actually not imagined how unique it really is to stand on any of these summits! With their snow mushrooms, the immensity of the Hielo Continental glacier on one side and the majestic Fitz Roy group on the other, it really makes these mountains like no other I have climbed before. And this is where we celebrated Sean's 39th birthday, with an all-you-can-eat mushroom ice cream party!
See all photos
