The mountain that that inspired the Patagonia clothing brand logo is the subject of a film coming to Portland and other Oregon locations during the 10th Reel Rock Tour. The featured Portland showing is Wednesday, Oct. 14.
Monte Fitz Roy is nowhere near the height of the main Andean chain in South America, but most of those huge mountains and volcanoes are nowhere near as difficult to climb as Monte Fitz Roy.
Between Feb. 12-16, 2014, Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold completed the first ascent of the much discussed "Fitz Traverse", climbing across the iconic ridge-line of Fitz Roy and its satellite peaks in southern Patagonia: seven peaks in all, each a jagged needle into the sky in its own right.
Monte Fitz Roy is 11,171 feet in elevation, about half the height of the tallest mountain in Argentina, Aconcagua. But Fitz Roy is much more difficult to climb, having its first ascent in 1952 when Aconcogua was first climbed in 1897.
While Aconcagua and even Mount Everest will have 100 or more successful ascents in a year, Monte Fitz Roy usually sees one or two.
The climb by Americans Caldwell and Honnold won them a 2015 Piolet d'Or Award (the golden ice ax), the Academy Awards among the world climbing community. John Roskelley of Spokane (click to read my story) won the award in 2014 for lifetime achievement.
Fitz Roy inspired the Patagonia logo after company founder Yvon Chouinard was on the team that made the third successful climb of the mountain, in 1968. Also climbing the Southwest Ridge (the Californian Route) with him were Dick Dorworth, Chris Jones, Lito Tejada-Flores and Douglas Tompkins (all USA).
The Reel Rock tour features a selection of five short mountaineering films, including "A Line Across the Sky," the 35-minute documentary of the Fitz Roy traverse. Tickets are on sale through the tour website, reelrocktour.com.
The Oct. 14 show in Portland is at 7 p.m. in Revolution Hall, 1300 S.E. Stark St. This is an 800-seat theater in the renovation of the old Washington High School.
Tickets cost $20. The tour website offers an option to purchase and "print at home for free," but then tacks on a $4.75 service charge. You also either need to create an account with a password to purchase, or sign in with Facebook. Two of the local sponsors said they have no tickets to sell.
The tour returns to Portland on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at Base Camp Brewing, 930 S.E. Oak St.) when tickets are $25.
The Reel Rock Tour includes these other Oregon showings: Sept. 25, Hood River; Nov. 14, Troutdale; and Oct. 30, Eugene.
The blogger visited the Monte Fitz Roy area in 2006. I backpacked to get closer to the mountain, but climbing it is well beyond my abilities.
-- Terry Richard
trichard@oregonian.com
503-221-8222; @trichardpdx
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