Dean Potter
One of the best things about Patagonia is the variety of people it attracts. As in Yosemite, it is quite common to meet climbers from all over the world, as well as legends of the area. People are brought together here even more because there is usually a lot of time waiting for the weather to turn, and few places to find dry, windless refuge.
While down in El Chalten, I kept running into a man named Carlos. He knew a lot about the area and seemed to be at peace here. It didn't take long before I realized that I must be talking with one of the few early climbers of the area, similar to the age of Royal Robbins, Yvon Chouinard, Tom Frost and that gang.
In the early '60s, Carlos Comesaña was one of a tiny group of climbers to explore the Fitz Roy region. While Yosemite was in its "golden age" of climbing, Patagonia was barely in its infancy. Everything from style of climbing to ethics was slowly taking shape, without much outside influence.
Fitz Roy, the undisputed prize of the area, had only been climbed once, and in expedition style, with fixed ropes and seige tactics. With his partner, the accomplished Patagonian first ascentionist Fonrouge, Carlos climbed the Super Canaleta [the Super Couloir] on Fitroy, alpine style.
Although it was the second ascent of the mountain, it was the first alpine-style ascent, and by a new route. The two also climbed many other new routes in the region in this committing style. Carlos is a very unique character—energetic, outgoing, extremely talkative. He has emphatic opinions about alpinism, formed by his past experiences and what he sees around him today.
Intrigued by Carlos, Steph and I started to talk about the idea of interviewing some of the amazing people we've gotten to know here. We knew the idea was meant to be when Carlos walked into our discussion of it at the Rancho Grande, while Steph had her notebook open and ready. Over beer (and coffee for Carlos, who has practiced abstinence his whole life according to the principles he was taught in the Boy Scouts—we're not kidding!), we learned more about his history and ideas.
Carlos Comesaña was born in Argentina and climbed in Barriloché with the Boy Scouts when he was 14 years old. He was inspired by a guide on the first Scout outing and continued to climb more and more. When he was 18 he traveled to Patagonia to see Fitz Roy, having heard of Maestri and Bonatti's climbs in the area.
He was inspired to become the best alpinist possible, in hopes of someday climbing this awesome peak, and he went on to push the limits of climbing in Argentina and around the world from 1962 to 1971. With his skills honed, Carlos returned to Patagonia and reached his goal of climbing Fitz Roy in 1965.
What drew you to climbing?
"There is something natural in man to climb. We are monkeys. We climb because we needed to avoid the tiger!"
What was it like climbing here in the beginning?
"My first expedition to Fitz Roy was a huge expedition with porters, fixed lines, and backbreaking loads, taking 18 hours from Rio Blanco to Paso Superor with all of the equipment. [Climbers today go from Rio Blanco Base Camp to the high camp at the pass in three to four hours.] We got partway up the route and were so tired from all the work of the expedition that we descended. On the descent I fell and split my head and vowed never to expedition climb again.
"Fonrouge and I decided to climb the mountain alpine style. I had leather boots, a Boy Scout pack, homemade crampons. We held our ice axes by the head, never swinging from the handle. No modern techniques. Fonrouge and I climbed the first ascent of Guillaumet and took a rest because we thought the weather would be bad. But it wasn't bad. The next day we started the Super Canaleta.
"We simul-climbed. This was the first time we even thought of climbing this way. We did this the majority of the route, and then Fonrouge led the rock to the top. I am really very proud because he inspired me, Fonrouge, to climb Fitz Roy that way. He gave me the confidence that we could do that. I could never do it without Fonrouge. I was not the best climber, but I was strong and determined.
"At the top we found a carabiner left by the first ascent party exactly where they said it would be. Fonrouge cried; we both cried. But this was really Fonrouge's great dream, to climb Fitz Roy like this."
What was El Chalten like?
"At this time, 30 years ago, I was putting traps to catch the rabbits. Because the rabbits were free. If you want a lamb, you have to pay. When we went back from the mountains, we lived on rabbits. Like Chouinard and Doug [Tompkins], they came here in '68; it was empty."
Why did you stop climbing?
"I quit climbing to beat the odds. Now I sail and surf rivers. I do things by myself to set examples for my age [Carlos is 61]. Now I'm just trying to surf virgin rivers that have not even been kayaked. I use a small board, like a body board. I have just gone down the Fitz Roy River, once in my kayak and once on my board, first surf descent of this river.
"There are two types of running. One is on-sight, the other worked. Also, I have a kayak. My kayak is inflatable because I go up in the mountain and then I go down. I just ran down the Blue River in Colorado and also the Trinity. And now I'm going to Europe in June to the sea. I plan to do 350 or 400 kilometers in Italy to the sea. I try to maintain alive the adventure and the spirit. I have other Fitz Roys in my life."
What brought your interest back to climbing?
"This is the basic reason of my return to the mountains. I worked twenty-five years as vice president of J.P. Morgan, in New York. I got my retirement money, I stayed in Miami. But then I began to think on what are the directions of alpinism. First I was enthusiastic about competitions.
"In the Alps, competition climbers made three new walls in the same day. They were speed climbers—no equipment because they were very fast. I said these are the new alpinists. I went to Europe to attend meetings on the climbers. But I saw a lot of sentiments which didn't catch up with my morals in terms of human behavior—drinking, smoking joints, taking cocaine to get a flash for the first 50 meters. It shocked me to see this conduct which was never what we believed. We believed in mouth closed, few photos, equipment neat. I talked a lot, defined it as a circus and they were clowns."
What is the right direction for modern climbing?
"Forget about competition. There are so many mountains, there is space for everyone to find his problem. Speed climbing to me brings together all the characteristics of alpinism. It is difficult to define the benchmarks in alpinism, easier to say what they are not. But they are definitely not bolts, fixed lines, oxygen, sherpas...."
Do you see alpinism as moralistic?
"Mountain climbing is not a sport, a game in nature. You must work together in order to do something and come back alive in a company that thinks like you. So there is something moral—I think these values are important for society. Country, God, nature, joy of climbing—not money or publicity. Society needs courage, friendships, solidarity—things that emerge in an expedition because you need them to survive.
"I read something from one Russian. For him, alpinism is 'an injection of heroism into the society.'
"And maybe it's true. This idea of being in a team, you enjoy these values: help your friend, enjoy that he's helping you with the problem. The adversity of this mountain gives the opportunity. Solidarity. To enjoy life and maintain the spirit alive."
How do these values transfer to other things?
"I believe classic alpinism develops in people values that these people maintain in society and business. In my 25 years at J.P. Morgan, I tried to conduct business according to my times as a Boy Scout and in the mountains. To manage business as a team, work in a team, to accept each other and leadership. Now in certain countries, the U.S., Brazil, Europe, companies are hired to teach management the techniques used in mountaineering. Go to a resort with a group of mountain climbers and twenty managers. Go to sleep in a tent, prepare meals together, climb, rappel. At the end business problems go away. Solidarity is necessary—you have to open yourself."
What issues in the world matter most to you now?
"My son Pablo is in college in Humboldt, California. We bought 20,000 acres in the Amazon, a closed valley with only one entrance. There is a river in the middle of it, and the valley is inaccessible from all sides. We are doing this because the Amazon is in danger. It is absolutely in danger.
"Every year 15,000-square kilometers disappear. Pablo needs to purchase more and more land as a cushion, or normal commercial life will impact this land. Doug Tompkins has purchased almost half of Chile in an effort to protect this land. He has a hundred trusts which people donate into from the US, funds to preserve the lands. Individual protection efforts may be the only way to save wild lands and the Amazon. Protecting the land is crucial. It is being destroyed, dwindling away. The mountains and the rocks are monuments for our land."
—
Dean Potter, MountainZone.com Correspondent
