New Slovenian first ascent route in Fitz Roy

From Patagonia, climbers from the Slovenian youth alpine national team Luka Krajnc
(AO PD Celje – Matica) and Tadej Krišelj (AO PD Kamnik) reported to us that last week they climbed a new first ascent route in the east face of Fitz Roy
and named it The Real Kekec.
Fitz Roy (also known as Cerro Chaltén, Cerro Fitz Roy or Monte/Mount Fitz Roy) is a mountain located near
the village of El Chaltén in the Campo de Hielo Sur area in southern Patagonia, on the border between Argentina and Chile.
The mountain, first climbed in 1952 by French alpinists Lionel Terray and Guido Magnone, remains one of the
technically most demanding mountains in the world for climbers. We Slovenians also have first ascents
and excellent repeats in it (among them, in 2004 Tina Di Batista and Monika Kambič as the first
women's team reached the summit of Fitz Roy (via the French-Argentine route)), and now climbers Luka Krajnc (AO PD Celje – Matica) and Tadej Krišelj (AO PD Kamnik) have added a new first ascent route in
the east face.
As Luka and Tadej reported, Luka had already been in Patagonia, Tadej arrived after him in El Calafate on Friday, January 11,
in the evening. On Saturday morning they already took the first bus to El Chaltén.
They described the course of the climb as follows:
"Since the weather forecast was favorable, we repacked our gear and headed to Paso Superior towards Fitz Roy. After
a short night, we reached the wall. At the base of the wall, we found that our planned route was wet, so we climbed into the adjacent "Slovenian" Devil's Gully (Karo, Jeglič, Knez, 1983). After a few pitches, we turned right and began
climbing the first ascent route. We found excellent passages through the steep and locally overhanging wall. To the top of the Goretta tower
we needed 3 days and 2 bivouacs. On Goretta we bivouacked for the third time and on the 4th day via the Cassarotto route
continued to the summit of Fitz Roy. We descended in the area of the French route and bivouacked for the fourth time at the La Silla saddle. On the fifth
day we descended back under the wall, picked up the gear we had left there before the ascent and descended to Paso
Superior. After the 3rd day of climbing, we ran out of food. When our route ended, we continued via
the Cassarotto route to the summit of Fitz Roy."
They reached the summit of Fitz Roy on Wednesday, January 16, 2013.
About the route:
"We were on the go for a total of 7 days, our line, which offers constant difficulties and runs through steep natural
passages between Devil's Gully and the Casarotto pillar, we named:
"The Real Kekec" (VI, 6c+, A2, 1300 m (800 m new route)), 4 days of climbing + 1 day of descent.
Throughout, uncertainty surrounded us whether the upper part of the wall would be climbable with our gear and abilities.
Withdrawal from the wall would be, due to the steep terrain and our limited gear, in case of bad weather or other
complication difficult. We left no traces or gear in the route. The second in the team climbed throughout and never
jugged. This is our first visit and first route in the mountains above El Chaltén."
As they reported, they are currently in El Chaltén gathering strength for upcoming adventures.
Comment from top alpinist Silvo Karo, who in 1983 in Fitz Roy together with Janez Jeglič – Johan and
Franček Knez climbed the first ascent route Devil's Gully, praised Tadej's and Luka's ascent, the new
route: "Congratulations to both for an excellent ascent, which is also adorned by the exceptional style of the entire tour."
More about Fitz Roy: The first recorded discovery of the mountain was on March 2, 1877, when Francisco Moreno sighted the mountain and named it
Fitz Roy, in honor of Robert FitzRoy, captain of the ship HMS Beagle. With this ship, explorers traveled up the
Santa Cruz River in 1834 and charted a large part of the Patagonian coast. Cerro in Spanish means "mountain", while the term Chaltén
comes from the Tehuelche (Aonikenk) language and means "smoking mountain", due to the clouds that almost always envelop the summit.
Monte Fitz Roy is a symbol of the Argentine province of Santa Cruz, the mountain is depicted on its coat of arms.