Go back to Frey.
Go back to Aguja Frey.
Incessant wind and cold for a third night in a row. A bit of a lull in the morning and so figured we should tick off the more exposed formation as we were running out of remaining days. 2.5 hours of slogging up gullies put us at the base of the notch that marks the start of the Normal Route on Torre Principal. We scrambled up and over the notch and got hit by what felt like a freight train of wind. Fortunately, our route of choice, Chocolate Liquido (6a+), was only 4 pitches long. Though the day started out partly cloudy, things were quickly becoming sunless, cold, and very windy. Very good crack climbing on pitches two and three (pitch 3 was not the advertised “4” ~ 5.6…) and a classic finishing, face climbing pitch (where all routes join the Normal). A handful of single rope raps and some roped down climbing put us back at the base. Having gotten a taste of the coldness on the west side of the ridge, we were cured of our desire to go back for Total Sinestro route – a nice looking route that according to a local climber (Mike from Switzerland who seemed to live in Frey for long periods of time) required “swimming weather” to be tolerable.
Photos
Go to El Cohete Lunar.
Go back to Frey.