Two weeks after opening a new line on Aguja Mermoz in the Fitz Roy Massif with Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll, Matteo Della Bordella and Leo Gheza have completed the “Care Bear Traverse.”
Freddie Wilkinson and Dana Drummond established the traverse in 2008. It involves climbing a beautiful skyline: Aguja Guillaumet, Mermoz, Goretta Pillar, and Fitz Roy, across each summit.
Della Bordella and Gheza completed the traverse in two-and-a-half days, climbing more than 2,000m up and down.
“Even if we had lots of food, ropes in perfect shape, and some energy left, we opted to descend because of predicted bad weather. We got back to El Chalten on the evening of the third day,” Della Bordella said.
Matteo Della Bordella and Leo Gheza on the traverse. Photo: Leo Gheza
Fitz Roy rescue operation ends
Rescuers have called off the search operation for two Basque climbers hit by an avalanche while descending Fitz Roy. On January 19, Amaia Agirre, 31, and Iker Bilbao, 29, were buried by an avalanche of wet snow and dragged into a crevasse. Agirre and Bilbao are declared dead.
Where the avalanche took place. Photo: Eneko Pou
Authorities asked climbers descending the same route on Fitz Roy to check the crevasse for any sign of life. Immediately after the accident, the third member of Agirre and Bilbao’s team, who had not been caught by the avalanche, spent an hour searching for them, with no luck.
A rescue team was not sent up to the crevasse because of the very high avalanche risk.
Amaia Agirre and Iker Bilbao.
