A Fine Piece — photos from the first ascent
Here are a bunch of images from the first ascent of A Fine Piece on the west pillar of Cerro Pollone that Jim Donini and I made in November, 1999. They just came back from slide scanning yesterday.
Although I didn’t write about this climb in detail in Enduring Patagonia (I think it might have got a paragraph, and maybe just a sentence), I’ve always thought of it as the perfect alpine rock climb — uncomplicated approach (albeit a long one), minimal objective hazard, excellent rock, and a mind-bogglingly spectacular setting. The climb went beautifully. We had stable weather and both of us were at the top of our game. I think it has been repeated a time or two, and although I’ve never heard from anybody who has done it, I’d guess that A Fine Piece will become extremely popular in the long run.
It was a dream come true to make the first ascent of such an incredible climb…
Torrecita Tito Carrasco on the left (we’d made its FA the week before), and the west pillar of Cerro Pollone dominating the center of the picture. Our route of ascent loosely followed the sun/shade divide for about 15 or 16 largely marvelous pitches.
Jim at a belay low on the route. The approach was easy, and not dangerous.
Jim leading low on the route
Getting my share low on the route
The view over the Southern Patagonian Icecap from the bivy we made at the end of pitch 7. (I’d think doing the whole climb in a day would be a better option.)
The same view a few minutes later. (or maybe it was the other way around.)
The climbing the next day was absolutely stunning…. I can’t remember precisely what order all this stuff happened in, but I’ll do my best. The climbing was fantastic, that much I do remember…
Jim got us around that flake…
We each got several pitches of stellar cracks… me above and Jim below
And then two more of me below…
Jim chilling on a ledge a pitch or two below the top of the pillar, when we knew we had it in the bag…
For once, I got the glory pitch… and the first gander at the most spectacular summit view I have ever seen in my life.
Piergorgio in profile, with the Southern Patagonian Ice Cap in the background.
Jim relaxing in our high camp after the climb
Reflections on the climb, one of the best I’ve ever done…
Here’s my recent post of photos of Jim climbing in Patagonia and Alaska from the Enduring Patagonia years. I’d love to get Enduring Patagonia in front of another generation of climbers, and for it to be the book climbers use to crack open our world for friends and family who might not appreciate and understand the passions that drive us.
I’ve got another run of slides coming from the first ascent of Shaken, Not Stirred that Jim and I did on the south face of the Mooses Tooth — another classic.
[UPDATE!] Just had brought to my attention the recent ascent of A Fine Piece made by brothers Joel and Neil Kauffman. Is theirs the second ascent? Here’s their story, with their own killer photos. Can’t believe how psyched I am to read about their climb and to hear that they’d enjoyed their ride up the route. Well done, boys!
Really neat to see their pictures in some of the same sections as I’ve posted above — like the “getting my share low on the route” pic.
I also can’t believe how much LESS ice there is on the Cerro Pollone ridge than when Jim and I were there — we’d have had to do some hella scary ice traversing to make it to the main summit. That whole thing was festooned with ice from just a few feet from where we were sitting. No way we were getting over there in rock shoes!
