Monte Fitz Roy (also known as Cerro Chaltén, Cerro Fitz Roy, or simply Mount Fitz Roy) is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

, on the border between

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

.MONTE FITZ ROY
''Andes Hand Book, www.andeshandbook.org'', accessed 21 June 2021
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''www.interpatagonia.com'', accessed 21 June 2021 It is located in the

Southern Patagonian Ice Field The Southern Patagonian Ice Field (), located at the Southern Patagonic Andes between Chile and Argentina, is the world's second largest contiguous extrapolar ice field. It is the bigger of two remnant parts of the Patagonian Ice Sheet, which c ...

, near

El Chaltén El Chaltén is a small mountain village in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. It is located on the riverside of Rio de las Vueltas, within the Los Glaciares National Park (section ''Reserva Nacional Zona Viedma'') near the base of Cerro Torre and ...

village and

Viedma Lake Viedma Lake (, ) is a Patagonian lake in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, situated near its border with Chile. Measuring approximately 50 miles (80 kilometers) in length, it is a major elongated trough lake formed from melting glacial ice. ...

. It was first climbed in 1952 by French alpinists

Lionel Terray Lionel Terray (25 July 1921 – 19 September 1965) was a French people, French climber who made many first ascents, including on the 1955 French Makalu expedition in the Himalaya (with Jean Couzy on 15 May 1955) and Fitz-Roy, Cerro Fitz Roy in ...

and Guido Magnone.

First European encounter

The first Europeans recorded as seeing Mount Fitz Roy were the Spanish explorer Antonio de Viedma and his companions, who reached the shores of Viedma Lake in 1783. Argentine explorer

Francisco Moreno Francisco Pascasio Moreno (May 31, 1852 – November 22, 1919) was a prominent explorer and academic in Argentina, where he is usually referred to as ''Perito'' Moreno (''perito'' means "specialist, expert"). Perito Moreno has been credited as on ...

saw the mountain on 2 March 1877; he named it Fitz Roy in honour of

Robert FitzRoy Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) was an English officer of the Royal Navy, politician and scientist who served as the second governor of New Zealand between 1843 and 1845. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of ...

who, as captain of , had travelled up the Santa Cruz River in 1834 and charted large parts of the Patagonian coast. ''Cerro'' is a Spanish word meaning ridge or hill, while ''Chaltén'' comes from a Tehuelche (Aonikenk) word meaning "smoking mountain", because a cloud usually forms around the mountain's peak. Fitz Roy is one of several peaks the Tehuelche called Chaltén.

Geography

Argentina and Chile have agreed that their international border detours eastwards to pass over the main summit, but a large part of the border to the south of the summit, as far as Cerro Murallón, remains undefined. The mountain is the symbol of the Argentine Santa Cruz Province, which includes its representation on its flag and its coat of arms. On February 27, 2014, Chile's National Forestry Corporation created the ''

Chaltén Mountain Range Natural Site The Chaltén Mountain Range Natural Site () is a natural site part of the Bernardo O'Higgins National Park in the Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica Region, Chile. It is located between the boundary demarcated by the 1994 arbitration award and se ...

'' by Resolution No. 74, which covers the Chilean side of Mount Fitz Roy and the surrounding mountain range.

Notable ascents

* 1952,

and Guido Magnone via Southeast Ridge (''Franco-Argentine Ridge'') (first ascent - 2 February 1952). * 1965, Carlos Comesaña and José Luis Fonrouge (from Argentina) via ''Supercanaleta'' (1,600m, TD+ 5.10 90deg) in days (second ascent). * 1968, Southwest Ridge aka ''The Californian Route'' (third ascent). Ascent by the "Fun Hogs":

Yvon Chouinard Yvon Chouinard (born November 9, 1938) is an American rock climber, environmentalist, and businessman. His company, Patagonia, sells outdoor products, outerwear, and food. He was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by '' ...

(who went on to found outdoor clothing and equipment company

and climbing equipment company

Black Diamond Equipment Black Diamond Equipment is a manufacturer of equipment for climbing, skiing, and mountain sports, based in Utah, United States. The company also has a global office in Innsbruck, Austria. The company is owned by Clarus Corporation, which also o ...

Dick Dorworth Dick Dorworth is a noted ski racer, coach and world record holder. Dorworth is the author of four books, ''Night Driving'', ''The Perfect Turn'', ''The Straight Course'', and ''Climbing to Freedom''. He was inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowb ...

, Chris Jones, Lito Tejada-Flores (filmmaker, whose 16mm

Bolex Bolex International S. A. is a Swiss manufacturer of motion picture cameras based in Yverdon located in Canton of Vaud, the most notable products of which are in the 16 mm and Super 16 mm formats. Originally Bol, the company was founded ...

camera footage of the ascent was used for the film of the expedition entitled ''Mountain of Storms'') and

Douglas Tompkins Douglas Rainsford Tompkins (March 20, 1943 – December 8, 2015) was an American businessman, conservationist, outdoorsman, philanthropist, filmmaker, and agriculturalist. He founded the North Face Inc, co-founded Esprit and various environ ...

(who, in 1964, had co-founded outdoor equipment and clothing company

The North Face The North Face is an American outdoor recreation products company. The North Face produces outdoor clothing, footwear, and related equipment. Founded in 1968 to supply climbers, the company's logo draws inspiration from Half Dome, a distinct ...

). * 1972, Southeast Ridge (fourth ascent). Ian Wade (U.S.), Dave Nicol (UK),

Mo Anthoine Julian Vincent "Mo" Anthoine (1 August 1939 – 12 August 1989) was a British mountaineering, mountaineer who climbed extensively in the Himalayas in the 1970s and 80s. Early life Born in Kidderminster, he left King Charles I School at the a ...

(UK), Guy Lee (UK), Larry Derby (U.S.) & Eddie Birch (UK). * 1980, following the ''Col Americano'' route,

Gino Casassa Gino Casassa Rogazinski (born April 23, 1958, Recoleta, Chile, Recoleta) is a Chilean glaciologist, serving as director of the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH) since 2024. He studied civil hydraulic engineering at the University of Chile (1984) ...

(Chile, monitor of the Andinism Federation of Chile) and Walter Bertsch (Austria) arrived at the peak together. Alejandro Izquierdo (Chilean) climbed to 2,800 m. * 1984, Polaca Route by Wieslaw Burzynski, Miroslaw Falco Dasal, Michal Kochanczyk, Jacek Kozaczkiewicz and Piotr Lutynski (Poland), 24/12/1984. 900m 6a A2. This route is still unrepeated. * 1984, Franco Argentina Route by

Marcos Couch Marcos José Couch (born June 14, 1960 in Buenos Aires), Argentine mountain climber, known for his professional achievements in mountains such as the Shishapangma in Tibet, or the Fitz Roy in Patagonia. Since 1987 he is a mountain guide and has b ...

, Eduardo Brenner, Alberto Bendinger, and Pedro Friedrich. * 1986, First winter ascent, in July, by Argentines Eduardo Brenner, Sebastián De La Cruz and Gabriel Ruiz, over three days via ''Supercanaleta''. * 1990, First winter solo ascent, in July, by Yasushi Yamanoi. * 2002,

Dean Potter Dean Spaulding Potter (April 14, 1972 – May 16, 2015) was an American free climber, alpinist, BASE jumper, and highliner. He completed many hard first ascents, free solo ascents, speed ascents, and enchainments in Yosemite National Park and ...

, first free solo, via ''Supercanaleta'' * 2009,

Colin Haley Colin Haley (born 2 September 1984) is an American alpinist known for fast ascents of technical routes on mountains around the world. Haley is perhaps best known for his traverse of The Torres (Cerro Torre, Torre Egger, Punta Herron, and Aguja S ...

, solo via ''Supercanaleta'' * 2009, Matthew McCarron, solo via ''The Californian Route'' * 2014, Between 12 and 16 February,

Tommy Caldwell Tommy Caldwell (born August 11, 1978) is an American rock climber who has set records in sport climbing, traditional climbing, and in big-wall climbing. Caldwell made the first free ascents of several major routes on El Capitan in Yosemite Na ...

and

Alex Honnold Alex Honnold (born August 17, 1985) is an American rock climber best known for his Free solo climbing, free solo ascents of Big wall climbing, big walls. Honnold rose to worldwide fame in June 2017 when he became the first person to free solo a f ...

completed the first full

traverse Traverse may refer to: Places * Traverse, Michigan, an unincorporated community * Traverse City, Michigan * Traverse County, Minnesota, a county in Minnesota Other * Traverse (climbing), moving horizontally on a climbing or mountaineering route ...

highly prized, ''Fitz Roy Traverse'', climbing across the ridge line of Fitz Roy and its satellite peaks. The route is 5 kilometers long and has approximately 4,000 meters of

cumulative elevation gain In cycling, hiking, mountaineering and running, the term cumulative elevation gain (or cumulative gain) is the total of every gain in elevation made throughout a journey. Elevation losses (i.e. periods when the person is descending) are not count ...

, with technical climbing of up to 5.11d (7a). They were both awarded the

Piolet d'Or An ice axe is a multi-purpose hiking and climbing tool used by mountaineers in both the ascent and descent of routes that involve snow or ice covered (e.g. ice climbing or mixed climbing) conditions. Its use depends on the terrain: in its sim ...

for their climb. *2019, Jim Reynolds, free solo. *2021, Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll completed the second ascent and first solo ascent of the traverse but completed the route in reverse, which he called the ''Moonwalk Traverse''. He was awarded a

award in 2022. * 2022,

, first solo winter ascent of the ''Supercanaleta Route'' on Fitz Roy.

History

After the signing of the 1881 Treaty between Argentina and Chile, the boundary in the area was defined in 1898 by the boundary surveyors,

Francisco Pascasio Moreno Francisco Pascasio Moreno (May 31, 1852 – November 22, 1919) was a prominent explorer and academic in Argentina, where he is usually referred to as ''Perito'' Moreno (''perito'' means "specialist, expert"). Perito Moreno has been credited as on ...

from Argentina and

Diego Barros Arana Diego Jacinto Agustín Barros Arana (; August 16, 1830 – November 4, 1907) was a Chilean professor, legislator, minister and diplomat. He is considered the most important Chilean historian of the 19th century. His main work ''General History o ...

from Chile. Huemul was declared a border landmark. The surveyors had no differences in the area between Mount Fitz Roy and Cerro Stokes, unlike other territories that were subject to arbitration in the 1902 arbitral award. The boundary was defined by the following mountain landmarks and their natural continuity: Mount Fitz Roy, Torre, Huemul, Campana,

Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he recei ...

Heim Heim is the German, Norwegian, Icelandic and Faroese equivalent of the English word ''home''. It is a common German and Norwegian suffix in place names such as Mannheim and Trondheim. In Norwegian place names, the suffix is often weakened to just ...

, Mayo, and Stokes (nowadays Cervantes). Chile has defended it as a border landmark. In 1998, the "Agreement between the Republic of Chile and the Republic of Argentina to determine the boundary line from Mount Fitz Roy to Cerro Daudet" was signed, defining section A and a small part of section B, with the area between Fitz Roy and the Murallón still pending.

References

External links

Andeshandbook: complete description, history, place name and routes of Fitz Roy"Cerro Fitzroy, Argentina/Chile" on Peakbagger
*
Monte Fitz Roy in History

Fitz Roy Summit Google Photo Sphere 3Feb2019
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitz Roy, Monte Mountains of Argentina Mountains of Chile Landforms of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina Última Esperanza Province Landforms of Magallanes Region Argentina–Chile border International mountains of South America Three-thousanders of the Andes Climbing areas of Argentina Climbing areas of Chile Pyramidal peaks