Monte Fitz Roy Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Monte Fitz Roy
Monte Fitz Roy in 2013
Highest point
Elevation	3,405 m (11,171 ft)
Prominence	1,951 m (6,401 ft)
Listing	Ultra
Geography
Monte Fitz Roy Location in Southern Patagonia
Location	Patagonia, Argentina—Chile border
Parent range	Andes
Geology
Mountain type	Granite
Climbing
First ascent	1952 by Lionel Terray & Guido Magnone
Easiest route	Franco Argentina (650m., 6a+, 6c/A1)

Monte Fitz Roy (also known as Cerro Chaltén, Cerro Fitz Roy, or simply Mount Fitz Roy) is a mountain in Patagonia, on the border between Argentina and Chile. It is located in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, near El Chaltén village and Viedma lake. It was first climbed in 1952 by French alpinists Lionel Terray and Guido Magnone.

European Discovery
Setting
Notable ascents
Images for kids
See also

European Discovery

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

Argentine explorer Francisco Moreno saw the mountain on 2 March 1877. He named it Fitz Roy in honour of Robert FitzRoy who, as captain of HMS Beagle, had travelled up the Santa Cruz River in 1834 and charted large parts of the Patagonian coast.

Cerro is a Spanish word meaning hill, while Chaltén comes from a Tehuelche (Aonikenk) word meaning "smoking mountain", due to a cloud that usually forms around the mountain's peak. Fitz Roy, however, was only one of a number of peaks the Tehuelche called Chaltén.

Setting

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 coat of arms.

Notable ascents

1952 Lionel Terray and Guido Magnone via Southeast Ridge (aka 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 2-1/2 days (Second Ascent)
1968 Southwest Ridge aka The Californian Route (3rd ascent of peak). Ascent by the "Fun Hogs": Yvon Chouinard (who went on to found outdoor clothing and equipment company Patagonia and climbing equipment company Black Diamond Equipment), Dick Dorworth, Chris Jones, Lito Tejada-Flores (filmmaker, whose 16mm Bolex camera footage of the ascent was used for the film of the expedition entitled Mountain of Storms) and Douglas Tompkins (who, in 1964, had co-founded outdoor equipment and clothing company The North Face).
1972 Southeast Ridge (4th ascent of peak). Ian Wade, Dave Nicol, Mo Anthoine, Guy Lee, Larry Derby & Eddie Birch. Ian & Larry from USA others UK.
In 1980 following the Col Americano route Gino Casassa, Chilean, monitor of the Andinism Federation of Chile, and Walter Bertsch, from Austria, arrived the peak together. Alejandro Izquierdo (Chilean too), arrived just to 2,800 m.
1984 Franco Argentina Route by Marcos Couch, Eduardo Brenner, Alberto Bendiger y Pedro Friedrich.
1986 First winter ascent, in July, by Argentines Eduardo Brenner, Sebastián De La Cruz and Gabriel Ruiz, over three days following the Supercanaleta.
2002 Dean Potter, solo Supercanaleta
2009 Colin Haley, solo Supercanaleta
2009 Matthew McCarron, solo The Californian Route
2012 Jorge Morales and Alejandro Heres broke the speed record of ascent.
2014 Between 12 and 16 February, Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold completed the first ascent of the much discussed "Fitz Traverse", climbing across the iconic ridge-line of Cerro Fitz Roy and its satellite peaks in southern Patagonia. The route is 5 kilometers long and has approximately 4000 meters of vertical elevation, with routes ranging in difficulty up to 5.11d.
21 March 2019. Jim Reynolds. Afanassieff (VI 5.10c, 5,000). Free solo.