Apparently he took a rope, a tin whistle and some birthday cake.
Fuck yes, what a legend! Sean and Nico stayed with me for a week about ten years ago, lovely people. Honnold has also been round for a brew so feeling a bit snubbed by Tommy right now.
From Colin Haley’s Facebook page...@seanvillanuevaodriscoll has just made the 2nd ascent of the Fitz Traverse (and the 1st ascent of the Reverse Fitz Traverse)... solo!
Some detail now out via Pg’s social media.Rope soloed anything technical. Which is hella fast considering. No info on how he rigged so many abs though - caring enough gear to leave seems to me the biggest logistical problem. Maybe there is so much tat in the range now he could rely on that, can believe it for the North pillar but a lot of the rest seems less frequented.
1000m of abbing
And like you say a tent and ten days of food before you start thinking about the rack you'll need to steadily abandon.
Between the 5th and the 10th of February, Seán Villanueva O'Driscoll completed the “reverse” Fitz Traverse solo, a traverse he christened “The Moonwalk Traverse”. Reality seems to have this way of always surpassing imagination. This is how the unimaginable came to pass.Seán approached the Fitz Roy chain from the southeast, via Laguna Sucia, sleeping at the cave near the edge of the glacier.On the 5th he started to climb, carrying a small haulbag and a pack, with ten days of food, a small tent, a light sleeping bag, and of course, a tin-whistle. He used a 60m lead line and a thin haul line. The forecast predicted six and a half days of good weather. He self-belayed and hauled on all but the easier pitches, and climbed everything free (+4000m, 6c 50˚).He started by climbing Ag. De l’S via the “Cara Este” route, linking into the “Austríaca” on Ag. Saint-Exupéry. While on this climb, rockfall resulted in three core-shots to his lead-line. A devastating hit so early in such a long traverse, but after taping the damage, he decided to continue. His first bivy was on the ridge leading to Ag. Rafael Juárez.On day two, while traversing towards Rafael, his harness gear loop broke, and he lost a few Camalots. With a damaged rope and less Camalots things were not looking up, but curiosity egged him on. He climbed the upper part of the “Anglo-Americana”, and descended the “Piola-Anker” to reach the base of the south face of Ag. Poincenot. This he climbed via the “Fonrouge-Rosasco”, bivying near the junction with the “Whillans-Cochrane”.On day three, which was the day of his 40th birthday, he climbed to the summit of Poincenot, and rappelled north via “Invisible Line”. From the col, he tackled Ag. Kakito, climbing a few new pitches to reach the summit from the east. He then descended and traversed to La Brecha arriving soon after midday. Although it was early, he decided to take the rest of the day off.On day four, the 8th, he tackled Cerro Fitz Roy, climbing the “Franco-Argentine” link-up. The scariest moments of the entire traverse came after the “end of he difficulties”, negotiating the summit ice-fields while wearing approach shoes and aluminum crampons. Descending north, down the “Casarotto”, high winds and a waterfall made him stop early again, two pitches above the Goretta Pillar. His rope was in bad condition, and getting it wet did not seem like a wise idea.On the morning of the 9th he rappelled to the Bloque Empotrado, climbed Ag. Val Biois, and did the long traverse to Ag. Mermoz. This section proved harder and more time consuming than he expected, but he still managed to reach the summit of Mermoz to bivy there.On his sixth day on the climb, the 10th, he rapelled [sic] the upper “Argentina”, and climbed the “Lüthi-Dominguez” to the south summit of Guillaumet, to then traverse to the main summit. He was unsure which route to descend, but upon seeing rock fall wipe out the “Amy”, he decided for the “Brenner-Moschioni”, reaching Paso Guillaumet around 2 or 3PM. On the last rapel, one of the core-shots on his rope finally gave way, exposing several meters. A rope badly damaged on day one, had miraculously survived to the end.Hiking down towards Piedra del Fraile, but wanting to soak in the experience he had just lived, he decided to stop at Piedra Blanca. A grand voyage of this magnitude deserved a pause before returning to civilization.Seán seems to be the only person that does not grasp the magnitude of what he has accomplished, and ascent that Colin Haley described as possibly the most demanding solo ascent ever done in the area. Beyond his well-know climbing skill and physical fortitude, what is clear is that Seán's secret weapon was his mental attitude, his willingness to always take one more step, and to do so with open curiosity. He played his tin-whistle in every summit, and meditated for close to 15' every morning. A climb this long and hard requires physical mastery, but above all it requires the ability to pause.
I think I read on one of the write ups that he’s been in Patagonia since Feb ‘20, so potentially had the chance to get the logistics pretty wired, but putting it all together is totally mind blowing. The film of Honnold and Caldwell’s ascent ‘Line Across the Sky’ is on the website of the caffeinated drinks company everybody loves to hate, for anyone who hasn’t seen it. One of my favourite climbing films of any genre in the last few years.
There’s a nice little interview with Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll on the Rock and Ice website.https://rockandice.com/climbing-news/interview-sean-villanueva-odriscoll-on-the-solo-first-ascent-of-the-moonwalk-i-e-the-reverse-fitz-traverse/
Previously I had climbed Saint-Exupéry, Poincenot, Fitz-Roy, Mermoz and Guillaumet, all by other routes.