Patagonia's Sarmiento West summit climbed alpine style by Hernán Rodríguez, Cristobal Señoret, Nicolas Secul

A small Chilean expedition comprised of Hernán Rodríguez, Cristobal Señoret and Nicolas Secul Ojeda has successfully climbed the remote Monte Sarmiento West summit in Patagonia. The trio departed on the 6th from Punta Arenas in a boat captained by Germán Alegria and his brother Pastilla. Five hours later they were dropped off at the Bardonecchia beach and while the crew sheltered in a more protected bay, the alpinists made their way to camp 1 at the entrance to the glacier. On day 2 they had poor visibility due to low clouds, but were nevertheless able to establish camp 2.

The next morning the weather improved and they left early. At 12:00 they had already established a high camp but since conditions were perfect, they decided to make a summit push, knowing full well that they might possibly finish at night. 15 hours later they were safely back at the high camp, having tagged the West summit and sheltered in a snow cave to eat and regain strength.

On day 4 they descended to the bay, and then returned to Punta Arenas the next morning. Writing to planetmountain after the climb, Señoret explained "We are very happy to get to know this place, so wild and elusive due to its weather conditions. And even happier to have been the first expedition to do this incredible climb in an alpine style ascent that took us 4 nights and 5 days round-trip from Punta Arenas."

This is believed to be only the 4th ascent of the mountain, and the first repeat of the original route established in 1986 by the Italian Ragni di Lecco expedition; on 24 December 1986 Salvatore Panzeri, Lorenzo Mazzoleni, Bruno Pennati, Pinuccio Castelnuovo and Gianmaria Confalonieri all reached the West summit. The other two ascents were carried out in 1995 via the South-West Ridge and South Face by Tim Macartney-Snape, John Roskelley and Stephen Venables, and in 2010 via a line on the north face by Ralf Gantzhorn, Jörn Heller and Robert Jasper.