In the climbing world, 1959 is a year marked in controversy. Italian Cesare Maestri and Austrian Toni Egger scaled a seemingly impossible route up the Patagonian peak Cerro Torre, in Argentina. Maestri returned to tell the tale. Egger — who supposedly took photos of their harrowing summit — did not.
Since 1959 questions have emerged about whether the duo really accomplished the incredible climbing feat they claimed. Estes Park author Kelly Cordes revisits the mystery surrounding the pair's climb in The Tower: A Chronicle of Climbing and Controversy on Cerro Torre.
"The claim was that they made this incredibly rapid dash to the summit and back," he said. "If it actually had happened, it would have gone down as the greatest climb in history. It would still stand as such today."
Doubts emerged almost immediately upon Maestri's return in 1959. He claimed that his climbing partner Toni Egger had died in an avalanche during their descent. Then in the '70s, climbers John Bragg and Jim Donini climbed a nearby mountain that used some of the same route Maestri and Egger used, and discovered parts of Toni Egger's remains.
Donini raised new questions about Maestri's description of the 1959 Cerro Torre climb. The Tower recounts those and other doubts, and dives into some of the puzzles, like how some of the recovered 1959 ropes were tied.
"The configuration of the rope found with Egger's body was a setup that wouldn't be used if you were lowering someone down the mountain as Maestri said had happened," said Cordes. "We can't really make sense of the configuration of the rope. It's still a mystery, but it definitely does not add up to the story."
In an interview that aired on All Things Considered, author Kelly Cordes spoke about his book, which examines the 1959 Cerro Torre climb, future expeditions to the mountain, and why it still attracts climbers today.
Interview Highlights
On Cesare Maestri's Legacy Following These Questions
"He returns [in 1970] intent on humiliating his detractors, and his way of doing this was to return to an easier aspect of the mountain, in a much more laborious style hauling up… basically a big lawnmower engine, hauling it up and jack hammering in 400 bolts, spaced to be used as ladders, completely ignoring the natural features of the mountain… It completely went against the style and ethic of climbing mountains which is to engage with the mountain."
On Cerro Torre's Unique Appeal For Climbers
"It's highly technically climbing, and it's capped by these crazy wild office-building sized, snow-rime ice mushrooms that are created based on its location… the wind sculpts them into these fantastical formations and shapes, there's tunnels and big cauliflower shaped things the size of houses looming out into space."
On Cerro Torre's Attraction Today
"It's the beauty as well as the challenge. Climbing has this incredible combination of aesthetics — climbing in these beautiful places, these places are so different from our everyday lives — combined with the highly technical aspects of it. Imagine performing a ballet routine in the most wild and beautiful place you've ever seen in your life. And the psychological challenge of controlling yourself and trying to perform when you're scared."
