Cerro Torre Via Dei Ragni preparation

I am a rock and ice climber looking to make an attempt at Cerro Torre's Via Dei Ragni sometime in the next couple of years. I have done a fair bit of multipitch in the alpine but never in a place as severe as Patagonia. I have never bivvied on a route and have limited experience with multiday epics on ice. What advice would you give me about how to prepare over the next few years to gain the necessary experience to safely make a bid for the summit? Anything is appreciated

I spent a few weeks climbing in El Chaltén this past winter and I share the same ambitions to climb the ragni in the near future. I also live in the northeast where there aren't many routes longer than a few pitches.

My favorite method of preparation for an alpine beatdown is climbing rock routes in the winter. An easy 5-6 pitch route can quickly turn into a long adventure in full on winter conditions. You'll get a lot of practice with aiding icy sections and managing cold hands over a longer period of time. Be careful not to scar the rock if you bring a tool to chip off some of the ice. Try to pick something that takes twelve hours of more so that you feel committed. If you can do a few of these in a row and spend upwards of 24 hours on the wall then you'll start to get a taste for the stress that builds up during alpine climbs. Good luck!

One step would be to actually go to Patagonia.  Do some other climbs there in order to build up to your goal.  The place can feel overwhelming.  Nothing in the states will compare, although you could take some trips to the Winds, Tetons, or PNW to help with preparation.

Sounds like you need to just go alpine climbing some more.  Go to the Canadian Rockies and do some routes like Polar Circus, weeping wall, curtain call, etc.  Go to the PNW and climb Rainer and actually bivi on route.  And maybe go to the Alaska and climb the Mini Moonflower and some other comparable routes.  WI 6 after climbing for 12 hrs should feel reasonable to you before you climb the Ragni. And practice your rapping and v thread making skills.  There are a lot of rappels to get off Cerro Torre.

Anything in Yosemite in the coldest of winters will prepare you for the rock part more than enough. Any ice routes in the Rockies will prepare you for the ice part more than enough.

https://rockies-ice.com/rockies-classic-ice-climbs/

“Patagonia is good training for the diamond in winter!!”

RMNP go get some

Be safe out there

I've not climbed in Patagonia, but I've climbed a few long alpine routes in harsh environments. It seems that the logical next step is to simply climb bigger routes and dial in the art of the bivy. Long, hard, back-to-back climbing days are going to be a key part of your preparation. With practice doing bivies on real routes, you'll learn an absurd amount of tricks to help your bivies be (somewhat) comfortable and restful, which is key if you want to climb hard the next day.

I went to Patagonia (area around Chalten) this past January for the first time.  Let me state that I’m a mediocre climber, so take this with a grain of salt.  I learned really quick that even the most moderate of routes are a serious undertaking there.  I would recommend making a trip to climb more moderate objectives first.  Both my partner and I had limited alpine experience and pushed ourselves hard to climb Aguja de l’s and Aguja Guillaumet.  Learn glacier travel and crevasse rescue.  You need to be in fantastic hiking shape.  I did tons of running be for I went and it still was not enough.  Do a lot of hiking up steep terrain with a heavy pack.  Climb as much wet and loose rock as you can find.  I found that the actual climbing was the least of my concerns there.  Route finding, assessing objective hazards, monitoring the weather, rappelling and maintaining energy after many hours were my cruxes.  I went down with the thought that I might be able to climb Poincenot.  During my first outing, I learned that wasn’t going to happen.  I knew that I could not climb fast enough to climb that mountain.  Those mountains are humbling and you have to be on your game at all times.  I can only imagine that anything on Cerro Torre is on a completely different level of difficulty.  Above all, climb with someone you completely trust.  My partner is what made my success possible.  Go there with no expectations and reassess the situation constantly.  Enjoy the experience, it is a place like no other.

I haven’t climbed Cerro Torre, but it seems to me that the hardest part of preparing for the Ragni Route is getting experience climbing vertical (or near vertical) rime ice & neve.  Climbing alpine routes in the spring / early summer that require climbing up / tunneling through big cornices is probably your best option for preparing for Patagonian rime ice.

I am not really sure what the best practices are for climbing rime ice in Patagonia, but you’ll probably want practice using either ice axe wings, an avi shove with a hoe mode, or pickets.