Cerro Torre

At the southern end of Argentina, between endless glaciers and the undulating estepas of Patagonia, stands a spire of rock and ice, 3,128 meters high: Cerro Torre. Considered by many to be the most beautiful and most attractive peak in the world, it has seen the attempts of the most technical and tenacious mountaineers. Reinhold Messner, one of the greatest of all time, defined it as "a cry of stone". But controversies have swirled around Cerro Torre since 1959, when Cesare Maestri claimed its first ascent. His climbing partner Toni Egger died on the descent and generations of world-famous mountaineers have tried to retrace his ascent line, but only found contradictions. In 1970, enraged by doubts and obsessed with the idea of reiterating his success, Maestri used a compressor powered by a combustion engine to drill hundreds of nails along the face of Cerro Torre, at close range, so much so that they could be used like rungs of a ladder. The Compressor Route immediately became one of the most controversial routes in the world and in the following decades it would be the most repeated to reach the summit. In 2012 Hayden Kennedy and Jason Kruk, two young, talented and idealistic climbers, removed many of Maestri's bolts and controversy raged once again. What role should equipment play in mountaineers' achievements? Who has the right to alter a street or a wall? What is the impact of historical circumstances on our mountain ethic? And above all: what is the ultimate goal of mountaineering? The summit or the climb? This story of hubris, heroism, ideals, epic expeditions offers the reader a glimpse into the human condition and explores some of the reasons why we embark on daredevil endeavors that, on a superficial level, may appear worthless.