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What makes a climbing story interesting? What makes it worth telling? Where is this elusive thing called meaning found in the utter absurdity of risking it all for the adventure of a lifetime?
Today we speak with Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll—part Belgian man, part feral mountaineer, part pied piper of climbing’s soul—about his recent solo of the entire Fitz Roy Range in Patagonia. Colin Haley called it “the most impressive solo ascent ever done in Patagonia,” which are classy words from Haley, who might otherwise hold that title himself. Sean’s adventure is easily one of the biggest climbing achievements of the year, yet his humble approach and world-class character that has driven a remarkable career of adventure and exploration is a testament to a lifestyle that seems to be rarer and rare these days.
For our Final Bit, Kaya Lindsay, the ukulele-playing free spirit behind @onechicktravels, spreads some Good Love.
Show Notes
Colin Haley breaks the news of Sean’s solo on Instagram.
Follow Kaya Lindsay and here’s another beautiful song from her.
3 responses to “RunOut #57: Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll and the Story That Needs to be Told”
Wow. These mountain boys impress with their depth and knowledge. I like the point about other sports giving in to gravity, while climbing is always a struggle. Help us dummies out in the future and quickly explain the literary references/tropes. I haven’t read a bunch of literature (who am I kidding, I haven’t read ANY literature).
A very unique climb and especially using rope soloing in an alpine, rather than big wall setting. The weather window sounds scary and Patagonia weather is notoriously stormy. Although the commitment level doesn’t sound as high, because if a disaster does occur, you are not going to be that far from the rescuers. I could not really get a mental picture of how hard this route is, or the Fitz Traverse route for that matter.
On the other hand, there is no doubting the difficulty of his eight pitch offwidth, King Line, on Cerro Chalten. In American terms, it’s eight pitches in a row of 5.10/5.11 offwidth. He says he didn’t put any gear in, in between most belays. It’s a route not many people will repeat:
https://explorersweb.com/2021/03/11/patagonia-sean-villanueva-odriscoll-tames-monster-offwidth/
Correction: the route is called “la Chaltenense.” I had misread the first line in the Explorersweb article.