On January 28, an avalanche on Cerro Torre in Patagonia claimed the life of accomplished mountaineer Corrado “Korra” Pesce. Here is what happened.
The following story was originally posted on Explorersweb.
As previously reported on Explorersweb.com, the Corrado Pesce rescue operation ended on January 29, after a drone spotted his lifeless body in the snow. An avalanche on Cerro Torre had seriously injured both Pesce and his partner, Tomás Aguiló. Aguiló managed to descend and was rescued, but Pesce’s injuries were so severe he could not move. When the weather tightened up and prevented a helicopter from accessing this difficult spot, it sealed his fate.
Aguiló remains in hospital in stable condition. Meanwhile, the windy weather continues. The gusts are so strong that they even reach the city of El Chalten.
Earlier, Carolina Codo from El Chalten Rescue Center said that a group of Pesce’s friends are planning to come to El Chalten to help recover his body. Today, climber-photographer Renan Ozturk confirmed on Facebook that Jonathan Griffith, a climber and close friend of Pesce, will attempt to recover his body during a short window later this week.
Previous attempts failed, despite a huge community effort, due to Patagonia’s infamous climate and the difficult location of the deceased climber.
The Pou Brothers: Why Rescue Is So Difficult At Cerro Torre
Elite climbers Eneko and Iker Pou told Explorersweb that when an emergency strikes in the mountains of El Chalten, there is little time to react. Weather windows are so short and close so abruptly.
The other problem is that would-be mountain rescuers are usually exhausted after their own demanding climbs. These needles are extremely tough. Helicopters cannot pick up climbers on vertical walls.
Few practical routes exist for potential rescuers. Eneko Pou also says that for these climbers it means having to repeat a dangerous climb on routes where perhaps only a few people have succeeded before.
However, in situations like this, everyone pulls together – the Argentinian rescuers, the army helicopter and the Patagonian mountaineers. Everyone tried to help Pesce, but his injuries were too serious, the mountain too merciless.
For the fifth year, the Outdoor Project's Block Party Festival Series is back and bigger than ever.
Now stretching to the East Coast, the traveling gear and beer event announced its title sponsor and full lineup. GearJunkie is even taking part in the festivities!
Beginning this year, KEEN will be one the festivals' national sponsors, promoting its Better Takes Action campaign to register voters and educate people on conservation issues.
But at each location throughout the summer, local partners will pitch in to provide craft brews, games, music, and, of course, gear demos. Plus, every event will partner with a local nonprofit focused on outdoor education, access, and conservation.
Outdoor Project Block Party Festivals
Outdoor Project launched its Block Party Festivals Oregon in 2014. Since then, the all-day festivals, hosted at local breweries, have spread throughout the West. This year, the event hits the bigtime with well-known title sponsors, charitable initiatives, and coast-to-coast reach. In addition to raising money and hosting gear demos, Outdoor Project will expose visitors to its online community. An outdoor travel and lifestyle website, it provides trail maps, gear recommendations, to-do blog posts, and more to its 1.1 million users.
Launching May 19 at Hops & Grain Brewing in Austin, Texas, the Block Party Festival will allow outdoor enthusiasts to interact with brands and local sponsors. Proceeds from the events will support local nonprofits as well as the the festival's national nonprofit partner, 1% for the Planet.
Check out the Block Party Festival tour schedule below. We'll be on hand when the events pull through our Minneapolis and Denver headquarters, so stay tuned for more info.
- May 19, 2018: Austin, Texas, at Hops & Grain Brewing, benefiting Explore Austin
- June 2, 2018: San Diego, California, at Green Flash Brewing, benefiting WILDCOAST
- June 23, 2018: Portland, Oregon, at Ecliptic Brewing, benefiting 1% for the Planet
- June 30, 2018: Seattle, Washington, at Optimism Brewing, benefiting Wild Salmon Center
- July 14, 2018: Denver, Colorado, at Denver Beer Company, benefiting Environmental Learnings for Kids
- August 4, 2018: Salt Lake City, Utah, at Uinta Brewing, benefiting Save Our Canyons
- September 15, 2018: Minneapolis, Minnesota, location and nonprofit partner TBA
- October 6, 2018: Brooklyn, New York, location and nonprofit partner TBA
- October 20, 2018: Charleston, South Carolina, location and nonprofit partner TBA
A timeline of events
Club Alpin Ragni di Lecco published yesterday a report written by Matteo Della Bordella and David Bacci. The two Italian climbers and a third member of their group, Matteo De Zaiacomo, had climbed Cerro Torre on the same day as Corrado Pesce and Tomás Aguiló.
It started on Tuesday, January 25 at 11:30 a.m. Della Bordella, De Zaiacomo and David Bacci ascended the east face of Cerro Torre, initially following the route opened by Cesare Maestri and Toni Egger in 1959, to the triangular snowfield.
From there they continued five more pitches to a small man-made shelter called the English Box. The box is now almost completely destroyed and only a few crumpled sheets of metal remain. It no longer really offers protection to climbers.
There the three men placed their portaledge for the night. As they climbed, they saw Tomás Aguiló and Corrado Pesce laying down ropes on the first pitches of their course, about 150m from the Della Bordella group line. They then watched Aguiló and Pesce return to their tent.
Desperately hard work
On Wednesday January 26, Della Bordella, Bacci and De Zaiacomo were able to reach the British road to Diedre after a trying day. This included extremely difficult pitches where the face was constantly sticking out and there was not a single edge. They put their portal above the void.
During the day they saw Pesce and Aguiló advancing on their own line. Pesce and Aguiló stopped to bivouac on a ledge about 50m to the right of the Box Anglaise.
The next day, January 27, Della Bordella and his two companions crossed the north face of Cerro Torre. Here they met Pesce and Aguiló. As the two groups climbed a new route and only 300m remained to the top of the tower, they decided to join forces for the final part. Pesce took the lead, followed by Aguiló and the three Italians.
At 5 p.m., Pesce and Aguiló reached the summit. Half an hour later, the three Italians join them. Both groups congratulated each other for the summit. Moments later, their paths went their separate ways.
For the fifth year, the Outdoor Project's Block Party Festival Series is back and bigger than ever.
Now stretching to the East Coast, the traveling gear and beer event announced its title sponsor and full lineup. Best of all, GearJunkie is taking part too!
Beginning this year, KEEN will be one the festivals' national sponsors, promoting its Better Takes Action campaign to register voters and educate people on conservation issues.
But at each location throughout the summer, local partners will pitch in to provide craft brews, games, music, and, of course, gear demos. Plus, every event will partner with a local nonprofit focused on education, access, and conservation.
Outdoor Project Block Party Festivals
Outdoor Project launched its Block Party Festivals Oregon in 2014. Since then, the all-day festivals, hosted at local breweries, have spread throughout the West. This year, the event hits the bigtime with well-known title sponsors, charitable initiatives, and coast-to-coast reach. In addition to raising money and hosting gear demos, Outdoor Project will expose visitors to its online community. An outdoor travel and lifestyle website, it provides trail maps, gear recommendations, to-do blog posts, and more to its 1.1 million users.
Launching May 19 at Hops & Grain Brewing in Austin, Texas, the Block Party Festival will allow outdoor enthusiasts to interact with brands and local sponsors. Proceeds from the events will support local nonprofits as well as the the festival's national nonprofit partner, 1% for the Planet.
Check out the Block Party Festival tour schedule below. We'll be on hand when the events pull through our Minneapolis and Denver headquarters, so stay tuned for more info.
- May 19, 2018: Austin, Texas, at Hops & Grain Brewing, benefiting Explore Austin
- June 2, 2018: San Diego, California, at Green Flash Brewing, benefiting WILDCOAST
- June 23, 2018: Portland, Oregon, at Ecliptic Brewing, benefiting 1% for the Planet
- June 30, 2018: Seattle, Washington, at Optimism Brewing, benefiting Wild Salmon Center
- July 14, 2018: Denver, Colorado, at Denver Beer Company, benefiting Environmental Learnings for Kids
- August 4, 2018: Salt Lake City, Utah, at Uinta Brewing, benefiting Save Our Canyons
- September 15, 2018: Minneapolis, Minnesota, location and nonprofit partner TBA
- October 6, 2018: Brooklyn, New York, location and nonprofit partner TBA
- October 20, 2018: Charleston, South Carolina, location and nonprofit partner TBA
The two groups separate
Pesce and Aguiló decided to go down the north face. Della Bordella, Bacci and De Zaiacomo preferred to spend the night at the summit and begin their descent the next day along the southeast ridge, the so-called Compressor route.
On Friday, January 28, Pesce and Aguiló descended into darkness. Eventually they reached the spot on the north face where they had previously left their sleeping bags and bivouac gear. They decided to rest at this point.
During these 2 hours of rest, the avalanche of ice and rocks hit them, seriously injuring Aguiló and leaving Pesce completely paralyzed.
Della Bordella’s group knew nothing of what had happened. On the morning of January 28, they began rappelling down Compressor Road. At 5 p.m., they reached the glacier at the foot of Cerro Torre, totally exhausted and exhausted.
Rescue of Aguiló
There they discovered that something serious had happened. Another group of mountaineers on the glacier told them about the accident of Pesce and Aguiló. They learned that Aguiló had managed to descend to about 300 m above the base.
Meanwhile, Pesce was seriously injured and showed no signs of life. Its exact location was unclear. The Italian trio’s drone managed to locate Aguiló but could not find Pesce.
Around 6 p.m. they began the rescue operation of Aguiló, under the direction of Della Bordella. With Roger Schaeli, Thomas Huber and Roberto Treu, they climbed seven pitches of the Italian route, up to the triangular snowfield, in around 3 hours.
Huber coordinated operations on the wall. The group traveled about 60 m to reach Aguiló. It was already midnight. They managed to secure Aguiló, then Huber and Treu began carrying the distressed climber.
Della Bordella and Schaeli stayed there with only one rope available. They tried to call Pesce, but there was no answer and they couldn’t hear or see anything. Aguiló had told them that Pesce was about 300 m higher.
Schaeli and Della Bordella waited on the triangular snowfield until 3 a.m. At that time, it was so cold that Della Bordella could no longer feel his feet and he felt weak. For their own safety, they had to go down.
As Kelly Cordes wrote in her book, Tower: “Unlike other legendary alpine ranges, the challenges of Patagonia have nothing to do with altitude…Nowhere on Mount Everest or K2 – not even on their most difficult routes – nor on any of the Alpine ice roads in the Alps, you won’t find such endurance vertical climbing as on the “easiest” Cerro Torre route.”
Kilian Jornet remembers Pesce
Kilian Jornet told Explorersweb: “Korra was a really fantastic guy. On ice and alpine walls, he was one of the best in the world and a very discreet and humble person. The North Faces of the Grandes Jorasses are his second home. I don’t know how many times he’s been up there… He’s the one we called to ask for the beta. This is a very big blow for mountaineering.
Matteo Della Bordella wrote on Instagram: “We had two parallel dreams: two new routes on Cerro Torre, passing elegantly and directly on the east face and then on the north face. You [Pesce] I was a mountaineer, “all the facts and no smoke”… In the rollercoaster of emotions that have hit me these days, only deep sadness remains for the loss of one of the best mountaineers of the world [and] a friend whom I admired.
Della Bordella, Bacci and De Zaiacomo have called their way Brothers in arms.
