Pete Whittaker Instagram – Another short window of weather allowed us to try the newly established route “Anda p’ alla!” on West Face of Guillaumet, which was put up by @facusaubidet @jerecastana @santi.scavolini @franco_toscani at the beginning of Jan.
Photos from the FA showed some amazing looking cracks and also suggested that the crux might be possible to free at 8a.
The route didn’t disappoint, brilliant rock on perfect flaring splitters.
@seanvillanuevaodriscoll put in yet more solid leads onsighting through the first points of Aid on pitch 4. Then I was up first at giving the crux pitch a look.
The bottom section initially felt trickier than it probably should have, as it was a wet crack (about E5) which I had to chop ice from whilst climbing.
I got stopped by an obvious crux; A thin seam with awkward body positioning and flaring finger jams. The individual moves went free and I went to the anchor.
Sean had a lead and worked on the moves, then next go i surprised myself by redpointing it!
We summited Guillaumet still in daylight and all got down safely to camp by midnight. Thanks for another good trip Sean and @julia.cassou
And thanks Facu, Jere, Santi and Franco for opening a brilliant route. The estimated grades on the pitches with aid seemed about right. We thought 7b(ish) for pitch 4, and 8a(ish) for pitch 5.
It’s an incredible place on the rock up there, but the mountains in Patagonia still scare me, so full focus and climbing well is the only option
Pic 1. Crux pitch
Pic 2. Summit
Pic 3. At the belay after the crux
Pic 4-5. Topo
📸 @julia.cassou
📸 Topo @patagoniavertical
@patagonia_climb
@wildcountry_official
@unparallelup
@sterlingrope | Posted on 22/Feb/2023 23:06:49
