Over a 15-day period from 16 January to 20 February Ines Papert, Mayan Smith-Gobat and Thomas Senf repeated Riders on the Storm (7c+, A2, 1300m), the iconic multi-pitch rock climb up the Central Tower of the Torres del Paine in Patagonia. Although some sections were climbed with the use of aid, new variants were discovered thus coming one step closer to the sought-after first free ascent of one of Patagonia’s crown jewels.
On the 6th of February 2016 Germany’s Ines Papert and New Zealand’s Mayan Smith-Gobat, accompanied by Swiss photographer Thomas Senf, summited Torres Central in Patagonia’s Torres del Paine National Park having repeated Riders in the Storm up the mountain’s East Face. Their ascent is believed to be only the fifth known ascent of this historic route in its 25-year history.
Source: planetmountain.com
IMAGE: Mayan Smith-Gobat climbing pitch 31 (7c+) of Riders on the Storm, Torres del Paine, Patagonia, established in 1991 by Kurt Albert, Bernd Arnold, Norbert Bätz, Peter Dittrich and Wolfgang Güllich
Photo by Thomas Senf
