We woke at 2am, ate breakfast and were on the move by 3am. Two hours of hiking in the Silencio valley brought us here, to our gear cache.
As many times as we'd ventured into the high valley, we had never see such calm and clear weather. I could barely contain myself.
Geared up and just about ready to engage the 2000' talus slope that guards the base of the tower.
As we ascended the talus and as the day got brighter, we got our first glimpses of the even more forbidding land to the west.
It was strange to suddenly be at an equal level as the monumental faces that dwarfed us in the valley.
Looking down the talus slope. Our gear cache was at the bottom. Base camp was about four miles off to the right. Those two figures are the friendly and talented dutch climbers who rooted for our success.
Looking up at the twin summits of the North Tower.
The massive face of El Escudo with the shadows of the Central Tower on the left and the twin summits of the North Tower on the right. Six pitches worth of simulclimbing on rock, ice and snow would get us to the notch between the Central and North towers, then there would be another 8 pitches up the ridge to the summit.
After the six pitches of simulclimbing on mixed terrain, this was my first glimpse through the notch between the north and central towers.
That's around a 7000' shear drop over that shelf of snow.
Once Dave joined me, we took a moment to reorganize and get him set up for the next lead.
I'm trying to make-out our route on our hand-drawn topo map I had copied from another climber.
Over my shoulder is the terrain we covered on the first 6 pitches.
Although the sky was clear, clouds would form and quickly dissappear off of the peaks.
Dave steps up to lead the two hard pitches out of the notch.
It was cold and windy. How were we going to climb 5.10 with fingers that were completely numb?
As I watched Dave send, I ran in place.
Looking across the col to the Central Tower.
See that warm sun hitting the rock on the top left? That's where we couldn't wait to be.
As Dave pulled the through the crux of the route, clouds curled around the side of the mountain and glowed brightly from the rising sun on the other side.
When I joined Dave after his two pitches out of the col, he was lounging in the sun with his puffy coat and smile.
We looked up and saw this beautiful crack. It had to be on the route.
At this point, we would learn, a team from South Africa was watching us from high up on the Central Tower.
They told us that the actual route follows easier territory from the last belay. They were impressed that we followed this more beautiful line.
Somewhere over there on Escudo was a california climber, Dave Turner, who had been on the wall for over twenty days at this point.
Looking for the climbers on the Central Tower. Can you see them?
Dave making himself comfortable at a belay. We'd been working hard for over twelve hours at this point, so these little breaks were important.
There's something lovely about a mountaineer's coil.
Another shot of the climbers on the Central Tower. Where's Waldo?
Somewhere down there is the "mirador" where tourists take their photos. On such a good weather day, I'm sure we contributed a pixel or two.
Our gear cache was on the far right side of the long thin snow field on the bottom right, ~4000' down.
As the day warmed, we listened to the thunder of glacial chunks breaking off and avalanching into the valley.
The view to the west. Beyond the row of peaks was a vast ice cap.
Gearing up for the last couple pitches.
A cuticle that just wouldn't stop bleeding.
"Hey Dave, come on up, I'm at the top!"
Or is that the top? It looks a little higher, but how do you climb it?
...a team from Spain joined us where we were and confirmed that we had reached the top of the route. Our first major summit!
Fortulessa blowing smoke in the background.
Riding the summit boulder with the Central Tower in the background.
A look down the east side.
We were happy to be on the summit, but knew we were only halfway.
Looking north.
It was after 4pm and we'd been on the move since 3am.
One of the Spaniards took this pic, just after we had our summit snack and right before we decided to team up for the decent.
With their set of double ropes and our 70m single rope we leap-frogged down the moutain.
Barbara of Madrid.
The sun was on its way down and the glare on the rock reduced to a warm glow.
In the coulior below the col. Dave traversing on soft snow.
We would have to climb the rib behind Dave and make two more rappels before we were done with the route.
Pedro from Spain helping Dave get set up for the last rap.
David of Spain.
Almost down.
The base of the Central Tower on the left and the South Tower in the middle.
We're down! Only five more hours of scrambling to get back to camp.
We climbed that?
The weather was so calm and the rock looked so warm. Was this really the same place we'd been spit out of before?
The last smile I could muster before our minds went sour on the way back.
Mental degredation on the slog home.
We made it back to camp at 1:15am and were crawling into our sleeping bags as our 2am alarm from the previous morning went off. Celebration would have to wait.
