New Free Route on The Tower of Paine

Nico Favresse, Sean Villanueva and American Ben Ditto have recently become the first climbers to free a route on the East Face of the Central Tower of Pain.

The tower was first climbed via the North West face by Don Whillans and Chris Bonington in the early 1960’s. Since then a multitude of routes have been put up, however an entirely free line on the tower remains a significant achievement.

The trio spent 13 days on the South African Route (1200m) which had previously had the grade of E2/A4 and had seen only two ascents in the thirty years since it was first climbed in 1973.

‘Free South Africa’ as the free version has been named, has not received a grade on the climbers blog but with A4 climbing having been freed you can guarantee some of it is going to be hard. However hard the climbing and conditions were though it did not seem to affect anyone’s spirits.

‘We had an absolutely awesome time. Jamming, climbing and hanging out!’

Information and Photos courtesy www.xpedition.be

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