Riders on the Storm on Torres del Paine in Patagonia climbed free by Favresse, Smith, Vanhee, Villanueva

One of the most famous big wall climbs in Patagonia, Riders on the Storm on East face of the Torre Central in the Torres del Paine massif, has finally been climbed free, by the veteran Belgian climbers Nico Favresse, Siebe Vanhee and Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll, and America's Drew Smith.

Pioneered over a period of six stormy weeks at the end of 1990 and the start of 1991 by Kurt Albert, Bernd Arnold, Norbert Bätz, Peter Dittrich and Wolfgang Güllich, this 1300m line is considered a true crown jewel of big wall climbing in Patagonia. At the time the Germans breached difficulties up to 7c free and A3 aid and, seeing the calibre of the team and the beauty of the line, the first free ascent soon became a plum objective throughout the big wall climbing world.

The route was repeated in 2006 by Nicolas Favresse, his brother Olivier, Sean Villanueva, Mike Lecomte and Philippe Ceulemans and although the Belgians ultimately failed to free the line, they did make significant headway and important new free sections were deciphered. In 2016 Ines Papert, Mayan Smith-Gobat and Thomas Senf free climbed additional new sections up to 7c+ and discovered a detour to surpass the infamous blank wall, but bad weather set in and they did not get a chance to free this variation. Smith-Gobat returned with Brette Harrington and Drew Smith the following season and were hampered by terrible conditions, nevertheless the climbers confirmed that the crux pitches could go free. Harrington returned in early 2023 with Vanhee and Jacopo Larcher, but once again the Patagonia weather gods were not on their side.

Now, 18 years after Favresse and Villanueva first tried the line, the pair returned with Siebe Vanhee and Drew Smith and after spending a total of 18 days on the wall and enduring extreme conditions, they claimed the coveted first free ascent. This was carried out capsule style, i.e. sleeping in portaledge camps and never returning to the base, and team free, i.e. all sections were climbed free by at least one member of the team. The climbers followed the variation pioneered by Smith-Gobat and Papert and while technical difficulties check in at 7c+, rarely has this number meant so little. Here is the team's preliminary report. More details will follow in due course.

RIDERS ON THE STORM FREE
February 9th, 2024, we stood there again, on the summit of Torre Central (2460m) of the Torres del Paine. Two days after Sean’s 43th birthday, 7 years after the first free ascent of El Regalo de Mwono, 18 years after Nico and Sean climbed Riders on the Storm for the first time. We stood there, wind in our faces, after having done the first team free ascent of Riders on the Storm in capsule style spending 18 days on the wall.

Riders on the Storm is one of the legendary alpine big wall routes first ascended by Kurt Albert, Wolfgang Güllich, Bernd Arnold, Nobert Bätz and Peter Dittrich in 1991. This obvious king line of 41 pitches, climbs 1300m up the center of the East face of the Torre Central. In the last 33 years this masterpiece has never been entirely freed. One of the major hurdles was the hard aid climbing and big pendulum across a blank face on pitch 16. In 2016 Mayan Smith-Gobat, Ines Papert and Thomas Senf discovered a possible 5 pitch variation at R13 that would make the route go entirely free. Mayan returned in 2017 with Brett Harrington and Drew Smith aiming for an all-free ascent. Unfortunately, they were pushed back by the intense Patagonian weather.

Extreme weather conditions are often the biggest challenge for free climbing in Patagonia. In 2023 Siebe teamed up with Jacopo Larcher and Brette Harrington to give it a try. Like Mayan and Brette, they got shut-down by wind, rain and snowstorms. This year Siebe came back with Sean, Nico and Drew Smith.

On the 15th of January we walked into the park with heavy loads of climbing gear and food. We prepared for 1 month of autonomy. We shuttled our fat pigs to basecamp, Campo Torres, and the base of the wall. During the first 9 days in the park we managed to climb one and a half days making it to the top of the pillar at pitch 13. On the 24th of January a short window without too much wind gave us the chance to commit to the wall in capsule style.

We hauled and set up camp, barely beating the storm that rolled in at 7pm. It was game on! The next few days we quickly managed to free climb the new free variation in harsh conditions, freeing the crux at about 7c+. Day 6 on the wall we rallied to pitch 26, the famous Rosendach roof. From there we only needed one good day to go the summit.

But it’s not called Riders On The Storm for nothing and when all the windows closed the Doors began to sing. Seven days later we still hadn’t gotten passed the roof. Several attempts were made to climb but they were shut down by freezing temperatures and rime covered rock. The only progress made was Nico red-pointing pitch 23, a mega struggle in icy conditions, cleaning the snow off the crimps while freeclimbing. Most time was spent reading, playing music, having book-discussions, popcorn parties and melting snow. We also got several visits from 140km/h invisible trains. Patagonian winds never disappoint.

On day 14 we made it through the roof and continued free-climbing the last difficult pitches. At nightfall, only 6 "easy" pitches from the summit, we got shut down by snow and heavy spindrift avalanches (for us simple rock climbers). Another 2 days were spent at our local bookclub "the flying carpets". Finally, on the 9th of February we crawled out of our tumble-driers and climbed the remaining pitches to the summit.

Once again we squeezed through the eye of the needle, taking advantage of every little opportunity, working as a team and feeding on each other’s motivation. This is the third free route on the East face of the central tower of Pain(e) after the South African route in 2009 and El Regalo De Mwono in 2017. Each one of them is absolutely world-class and one of the reasons this wall keeps calling us back.

Besides being an indispensable member of the team, shutterbug and Montana hard man Drew Smith managed to capture not only the pain, struggle and glory of the ascent, but also the sobbing. More to come.

This trip wouldn’t have been possible without the help of the kind Chileneans! Jorge Ruiz, Seba Rojas, Hernan Jofre, Hernan Rodriguez, Seba Pelleti, Yonatan Araya, Nico Secul, Ocho and Ruth of the Redpoint Hostel and all the guardaparques at Campo Torres. Also many thanks to Rolando Garibotti and Mathieu Maynadier for weather forecasting.

Thanks to our sponsors: Totem Cam, Lyofood, LMNT Salt
Favresse & Villanueva: Patagonia, Scarpa, Petzl, Samaya, Julbo
Smith: Roark
Vanhee: The North Face, La Sportiva, Edelrid