Mojon Rojo, Colin Haley and Sarah Hart climb West Face in Patagonia

On 21/02/2013 Colin Haley and Sarah Hart made the first ascent of the West Face of Mojon Rojo via their El Zorro (700m, 5.10, A1).

On Thursday 21 February American alpinist Colin Haley and his partner Sarah Hart forged an great new line up the hitherto unclimbedWest Face of Mojon Rojo, a peak situated next to Aguja de l'S in Patagonia's Fitz Roy massif.

According to Haley this steep face had remained unclimbed probably because climbers feared "dangerously loose rock" and consequently the two prepared themselves, after a night at the Niponino bivouac, for "intense, potentially scary pitches". Much to their surprise though they encountered quite the opposite: "From the very beginning, we were delighted with what we found - the rock, while not perfect, was far from loose or poorly-protected."

The two climbed featured red rock, up the path of least resistance and via the best-looking climbing, past difficulties up to 5.10, A1 to reach the knife-edge crest which led to the summit proper circa half an hour before nightfall. They descended to the east to Laguna Sucia, and after a cold night at the Rio Blanco campground returned backl to El Chalten.

After the ascent Haley exclaimed "This ascent felt like a real coup, because the quality of the climb far, far exceeded our expectations" and concluded "It is a route I highly recommend."

Full report and photos on www.colinhaley.blogspot.com