First ascent of ‘Unseen Mountain’ in Patagonia
- Wednesday 11th January 2023
A small group of climbers report the first ascent of Cerro Pared Sur, Patagonia.
Cerro Pared Sur, a “hidden” peak off the Northern Patagonia Glacier and dubbed the ‘Unseen Mountain’ by the first ascensionists, has been climbed for the first time on December 19th by a five-member group comprising Felipe Cancino, Riley Rice, Scarlet Graham, Mitch Harter and Frank Preston.
Reporting their success, Felipe Cancino said that Pared Sur was “a mountain that I had been dreaming of for more than 10 years.“
The group left on December 6th and began the approach to the remote mountain on the Northern Patagonia Glacier. The approach itself was far from easy comprising bushwacking, windy and exposed ridges and heavily-going snowfield. Team member and photographer Riley Rice confirmed the problems they had on the approach alone, “We spent 24 days shuttling loads, ferrying rivers, bushwhacking in beech forest, and packrafting real big and cold rivers to get in and back out. It rained or snowed 20 of our 24 days — which is not bad for austral summer on the icefield.”
Finally, the team stood on the summit on December 19th as Felipo Cancino confirmed, “On 12/19 we were able to make the first ascent of the "Unseen Mountain" (as I call it) exploring one of the most remote and least visited accesses of the Northern Ice Field.
We came back with happiness and joy after 25 days of expedition and with many experiences that marked our way to the summit and back home.”
It’s a perfect example that first ascents are still out there waiting to be climbed; especially in the remote areas. As Cancino wrote, Pared Sur “cannot be seen from any valley, is flanked by mountains, and is constantly wrapped in storms and bad weather.” Organisation is the key to success; Cancino again, “The first ascent of Pared Sur was a difficult puzzle to solve. There were years of research and work, we managed to put a couple of pieces together that would be enough to plan an expedition and go out to set an attempt.”