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Benegas brothers call it quits on Latok I
Jul 19, 2004 12: 13 EST
“We had been in BC for 4 days now; like two dogs after a fight we are laying down and liking our injuries”. Bad weather and, most of all, bad conditions on Latok I have forced the Benegas brothers to abandon their attempt to climb the virgin big-wall. As they point out, there was no other choice.
They tried every possible approach and changed strategies from pure alpine to fixed rope, but the mountain simply refused to assent.
On July 11th they started climbing eight pitches on rock over the ridge, and set Camp II. Next morning they “woke up at 3am with the intent to keep climbing on the ridge and avoid the heat of mid day, but just after 100m we both came to the conclusion that it was dangerous, even impossible, to gain altitude by keeping on the edge of the ridge. Therefore we traversed slightly right towards the middle of the incredible fluted snow ramps. We thought we would not only gain altitude fast but also create a sort of short-cut to the upper ridge.” It didn’t work; avalanches of wet snow fell frequently and they could barely find a place to set camp III, half-hanging into the void.
“On July 13th we both looked at each other and very quickly came to the conclusion that something was wrong and this face was not in a condition to be climbed. It is way too loaded and it seems that we have some sort of temperature inversion. On top of everything the weather pattern is 3 days of clear skies and very hot with 4 days of rain/snow, never giving a chance for the snow to melt and become ice. Instead the face is covered with very unstable snow, and the ridges and mushrooms are growing heavier, ready to crumble down. Following the Benegas motto, we quickly started our descent to BC”. The descent took two days of rappelling in nasty weather conditions. Back in BC, ongoing rain and snow showed that there would have been no point to remain on the wall.
“We will wait in BC till the 20th, when the porters will arrive, just watching movies and eating, since the weather is so bad that we can’t even boulder in the BC area. Thanks so much for being part of this adventure.”
They are far from surrendering or forgetting. As they assured: “Failure--- No way! Failure would be if we had decided to keep going up and not pay attention to our feelings. Summits are the half way point, what counts is the process and the process on this trip was interrupted/corrupted by Mother Nature. The twins will be back!”
"Latok I is a perfect spur rising from a completely flat glacier. The best part of opening a new route is the sense of exploration, wondering at each step where you will go next. If there are traces, well, we will just have too many clues! That’s why we are considering changing the place where we will open the route. We’ve been thinking of the possibility of climbing the North face, instead of the North ridge. The problem with the face is that it can be too exposed to falling rocks. We can not know until we get to the foot of the wall. Then we will make our decision."
Damian and Willie (Guillermo) Benegas, born in Argentina and living in the USA, have raised the attention of the climbing community since they were very young, and started opening routes in their homeland, mostly in Patagonia and Aconcagua. Then they extended their action field to the rest of Andes, did severe rock-climbing in big walls such as El Capitan (Yosemite) and soon headed for the Himalayas. They own a guiding company.
Last year they were the first to climb the North Pillar of Nuptse, resulting in a new route opened in alpine style after a non-stop six day long climb, and named ‘Crystal Snake’. "When we were climbing the North Pillar of Nuptse last year, we couldn’t take our eyes off of Everest’s west face. We studied the face under different light, at different hours, and I think there is a route there. Yeah, someday we’ll go there, when we get the money, of course!"
This summer, they were in the Karakorum Range trying to be the first to climb the North Ridge of Latok I. Unfortunately, weather and snow conditions forced the climbers to retreat.
Image of the climb, courtesy of the team.”
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