Some defend the magnitude of Patagonian climbing by arguing
that despite only reaching 4,000 meters, Patagonia offers walls with slopes
that leave nothing to envy the Himalayas, or that the "alpine" starts
at sea level, where numerous glaciers shed their ice.
If there is anything that the Patagonia teaches us it is
that the experience a mountain offers a climber cannot be measured in meters.
It is something that would require a far more complex metric that, if it did
exist, would be absolutely meaningless.
This is not to say that the great mountains do not offer a
particular attraction with their size and promise of limitless horizons. It
means that other smaller peaks, often hidden, offer huge challenges that can
mark a before and after in one’s life.
Head wall on Cerro Torre
Summit of Fitz Roy
Cerro Torre massif
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