After getting down from Poincenot, I messaged Shira at 3:30am and told her that we weren’t sure if we were planning to climb Rafael Juarez the next day. I was exhausted and my arms were very tired. I spent nearly an hour melting snow for water before shooting out another message telling Shira to be here at 9am sharp because we are for sure going up. I slept that night in my helmet, in fear of rockfall, and woke just before 9am. We racked up as we debated what route to climb. My vote was to climb the easier line which is the Anglo-Americana but Chris wanted to climb the Piola-Anker, a route that I had never heard of that had 6 pitches of grade 6a or higher. I reluctantly agreed and we set off up the north ridge climbing splitter after splitter of amazing granite. The route contained some of the most enjoyable climbing I’ve experienced down here even though my arms were so worked that 5+ was a struggle. We climbed the route in perfect weather and chilled for maybe 30 minutes on the summit. It was pure bliss. The standard descent is to rappel the Anglo Americana but we choose to rappel the Arteballeza since our packs were on that side of the mountain. The raps went quick except for one stuck rope again on the steepest pitch of the rap line. We romped back down to Polacos in the late afternoon and moved our tent to a safer location down the hill.
I went to bed that evening feeling incredibly fulfilled and psyched out of my mind that I was able to climb three summits via three high quality lines in only three days with the company of three incredible people. The views at sunset were unreal and I was in a state of euphoria. However, I did feel like I perhaps got away with something… While I was only in the exposure zone for a brief duration, crossing the fresh rock fall path 4 times was sketchy and not something I am proud of. On top of that, each day was filled with dozens of close rock fall events and there were many massive rock slides and avalanches both visible and audible regularly. The reality of this place is that the climbing here requires one to take on significantly more risk and accept a higher probability of objective hazard than any other climbing area I’ve ever been to. Every single climber I have met down here has a story of a close call or near miss this season. It appears to be the case that this climbing season in particular has been worse with rock fall and avalanches due to climate change and the fact that it has been so dry the past year. However, that is a trend that will likely continue and I foresee this place becoming even more unstable. The problem is that the climbing down here is so beyond incredible. I feel like I thrive in these mountains and it is a place where my dreams come true. This conundrum is something I am in the process of grappling with as I write this.
As I went to bed that last night in Polacos, I turned on my InReach to message my parents that I was safe and back in camp after three days of successful climbing. I didn’t sleep well that night, waking up regularly through the am hours which is quite unusual for me. I had ample time to think that night as I watched the headlamps of a party descend the Southeast Ridge of Cerro Torre across the valley. The thought that someone had died during this weather window kept coming back to me. The mountains were visibly falling apart all around us and I had some sort of feeling that we would arrive back in town to news of an accident.
Sadly, we didn’t even have to get to town to be informed of such an occurrence. The next morning I woke up and turned on my InReach to check if my parents responded. They had but I also saw a message from my friend Beau who had been climbing on Fitz Roy. I opened up the message and had to read it multiple times before it sunk in. I sat in my punctured tent and read the message out laud to Shira and Chris as I began to weep. “Hey Tyler. Cedar, Adam and I are safe back in Chalten. Unfortunately, there was a rockfall accident on rappels and John passed away (2/23). We are in communication with the parks service. We need John’s family contact info, did he give it to you?” John Bolte had sent me his dad’s contact info just a week before and I forwarded it over. We packed up our base camp and hiked back to El Chalten with sad and heavy thoughts in our heads.
John Bolte was a one of a kind human and incredible character. He was a good friend and climbing partner that I will miss forever.
To find out more about the accident and about John, please check out this article by Climbing Magazine: www.climbing.c...
15 окт 2024
