The Care Bear Traverse
The night we sent the South African Route , Cedar, Ima, and myself stayed up late listening to music and smoking cigarettes in our portaledge in a mood of pure bliss. I picked up my InReach and sent out a massage to Thomas Burkowski, asking him if there were any upcoming weather windows in El Chaltén. To my surprise, the next morning on Friday the 13th, he mentioned there was a window approaching on Tuesday. We spent that Friday, waiting out bad weather, Saturday descending, Sunday hiking out, and Monday unpacking, repacking, and traveling to El Chaltén. After a missed bus, we finally arrived at 2am on Tuesday morning in a marathon sprint to catch the weather window. The three of us walked into Thomas and J Guy’s tiny home, woke up Jacob Cook who was sleeping upstairs, and proceeded to crash ourselves.
I woke up in the early morning and went out to buy groceries. Jacob ended up sleeping in till about 8:30 which I was okay with solely because he had mentioned he had a fever. I made breakfast for everyone and began getting packed up for our climb. We had spoken over the phone maybe 24 hours before to decide on an objective and we both seemed quite stoked to attempt; the Care Bear Traverse. Our main goal for the trip was to go for the Southeast ridge of Cerro Torre which probably would have been a good objective for this window but both of us were pretty worked from travel and wanted a bit of a warm up. The Care Bear, felt uncommitting and kind of chill being that Jacob had already done the Motocross traverse and we could pretty much bail at any point.
The four of us fully exploded our bags in the yard of Lo de Trivi as we began to pack. Rolo came over to hang and provided us with beta and advice. I was so stoked and happy to be back. We eventually packed our bags, ate some sandwiches and hit the road to hitchhike to Rio Electrico just after 1pm. Just as we were about to get to our spot to stand, the very first car that came down the road pulled over at the sight of our thumbs. I recognized the driver, Marcos Gorostiaga… the doctor from Bariloche who I met last year in Chaltén and hung out with in Frey. I was psyched to see Marcos and learn he would be going for the Motocross Traverse. We rearranged the car and jumped in.
As we began hiking to Piedra Negra, Jacob insisted we keep things chill and go slow. I was down and we did so till we hit the uphill. Then with Jacob in the lead, we picked up the pace which turned out not to be the move since Jacob started feeling quite sick. I took over and led us to Piedra Negra where thankfully Jacob began to feel a bit better. We made it to Paso Guillaumet which is the start of the traverse. Our plan was to sleep there that night but it was only 6:30pm and we decided to climb the Brenner on Aguja Guillaumet which we estimated would only take about 2 hours. It ended up taking perhaps just a few minutes longer and we set up camp on the summit by 9:30pm. It was absolutely beautiful out and I was psyched to be climbing alongside Jacob. We made dinner and passed out in our tent which I was initially reluctant but grateful that we brought.
We set our alarms for 7am and eventually left the summit of Guillaumet at 8:30 after a slow morning. Jacob and I would swap simul blocks and climbed this terrain quite efficiently on our journey over to Aguja Mermoz and then to the Bloque de Empotrado. We had zero route finding issues, zero snagged ropes, and didn’t have to upgrade any anchors. We made it all the way to the base of the Goretta Pilar by 4:30pm at what felt like a casual pace. Our plan was to bivy there but per instructions from Rolo, we learned we could climb 2/3 of the Pilar to a Bitchin bivy in about 4 hours. It ended up taking closer to 5 but we eventually made it to the bivy spot after climbing some of the best rock one could ask for. As I arrived on the bivy ledge, I looked over and saw a single tent on what appeared to be the only flat spot on the entire ledge. I walked over and a head popped out, looked at me, and asked if I was Tyler? I said yes, peered back, recognized Colin Haley and asked if they were Colin? Colin said yes. We chatted for a few minutes and I went to find another place to set up our tent.
Jacob finally arrived on the ledge, quite worked and very ready to get hydrated and go to bed. Unfortunately, there was no snow and no other flat spots. I found enough of a drip to fill up a liter in about 5 minutes and began filling water and getting our gear organized. I set up the tent for Jacob in a slanting area and blew up my sleeping pad amount some flat rocks nearby outside. I passed out and slept amazing. Jacob, not so much. When we woke the next day at around 8:30am, Jacob looked awful. He had a fever, soar throat, barely slept the night, and was pretty sure he had Covid.
Luckily he was still psyched enough to continue as a second as I began leading up the incredibly enjoyable route “Gringos Perdidos”. We climbed alongside Colin Haley as he soloed Mate, Poro, y Todo lo Demas. Near the top of the Goretta Pillar, a giant ball of solid ice landed on the belay ledge we were standing on out of nowhere. It was quite a wakeup call and I was not stoked about it. We made it to the pillar and took a long break at the summit. Jacob was still feeling quite sick and I wanted to ensure he had time to rest and we had time to make a fair decision on whether or not we wanted to head up or down. We ate Salami and cheese while watching J Guy and Thomas semi epic on the soaking wet headwall pitches of Cerro Chaltén. I knew these were the crux pitches of the Fitz Traverse and the terrain did look quite serious. Ice was falling down regularly and the cracks looked quite wet.
We spent nearly an hour debating whether to go up or down but ultimately Jacob was still down to follow so we decided to go up. I somehow found myself completely in my element on those soaking wet steep cracks, as I blasted music and aid climbed to get up as quickly as possible. I climbed quite well and eventually caught up with our friends Thomas and J Guy. We joked that we were NIADing them as we began to pass them but pretty much went the same speed once we hit the lower angle summit slopes. We made it to the summit ridge in the late afternoon and decided it would be best to bivy there instead of going down the Franco rappels. Jacob was a serious mess by now and needed to rest. Moral was high as we ate dinner on top of Cerro Chaltén but shortly before bed, that changed as we got word that two climbers had died in an avalanche during their descent from the mountain. That news along with my constant thoughts of John Bolte, made our heads go to shit. Both Jacob and I struggled to go to sleep and woke up in crappy moods. We decided to rappel as a party of four to keep things safe but that didn’t really change the mood. Our descent day incredibly stressful and unpleasant. Jacob and I made it back to town at 2:30am on Saturday after waiting many hours to rappel La Brecha in the evening in cooler temperatures.
Jacob Cooks trip report: https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/trip_reports/jacob_cook_on_the_care_bear_traverse-15159
