Earth Sculptures #5
Better known as Cerro Torre, Spanish for The Tower (or Hill) the tower’s summit sits at around 7,000 ft above the valley floor (on its south face)
It is situated in the southern Patagonian ice field in Argentinian territory on Chile’s border.
Cerro Torre though relatively slight has been called the most beautiful mountain in the world — Such is the awe and esteem it is held by the world’s greatest climbers.
In 1989 Yugoslavian climber Silvo Karo who had already climbed Cerro Torre’s east face wrote “Compared with the south face of Cerro Torre, the great walls of Europe — the Eiger, the Grandes Jorasses or the Matterhorn — seem nearly flat.”
The tower’s controversy is as steep as its history, which in turn is as steep as its igneous walls.
On loose observation one might find a comparison to be made with Cerro Torre and the Dolomites in Italy. And this is probably where Dolomite climbing legend and national hero Cesare Maestri’s head was at when he made his way to Patagonia in 1959 to be the first to conquer the enigmatic and at that time rarely witnessed mythical tower.
On assent one of his climbing buddies turned back and the other fell to his death and took the only camera with him, but Cesare claimed he finished and summited on his…
