Granite peaks with vertical walls somewhere on the border between Argentina and Chile, where the winds of the Atlantic meet those of the Pacific and a severe winter combats hot summer, are very attractive to climbers from all over the world. Martin Marovski, Victor Varoshkin, Grigor Vutev and Ruslan Vakrilov are four Bulgarians who left behind the known European mountains for two months and went on an expedition to Patagonia, entitled “Tail of the Devil.”

“In the career of every climber there is a moment when you want to change the known places. It seems all mountains are the same but they are not. This is what led us to the Andes that are much more different than the Alps.”

Leader of the expedition Martin Marovski told us more about the raw beauty of the Andes:

“This part of the Patagonian Andes is incomparable to any other mountain. There are these massive granite pinnacles with 1500-meter vertical walls. It is hard to describe these truly unique mountains.”

There are almost no foothills and the peaks rise in the middle of a plain, Viktor says. On the 6th of January 2016 at 4 pm Martin and Victor became the first Bulgarians to set foot on Cerro Torre (3128m). In order to reach the base of the peak they needed 30 days.

"The weather conditions are a major determinant. Winds there reach 200 km per hour. The place is notorious for its bad weather. We had bad weather for a whole month with the exception of a very small period of one or two days. We usually passed more than 20 kilometers a day just for the wind to force us to turn back to the town of El Chaltén, situated near the base of the rock needles - our goals. So a month passed in unsuccessful struggle with the forces of nature.”

"While climbing the peaks, we were not sure whether we would reach the top because each year the ice mushrooms that form on the tops are different and sometimes they are absolutely inaccessible. We thought we might have to go back some 50-100 meters before the top. The fact that we managed to reach the very top was a nice surprise and a great achievement. We were dreaming about that moment for a whole year and I remember being filled with happiness up there,” Victor says.

“The point at which we were able to do what I had dreamt about for a whole year was very special. I remember that my mind filled with happiness,” Victor says.

"First comes the stunning way this mountain looks. It is a rock needle that seems to have fallen directly from the sky in its place, since the peaks around it have very different structure and size. Wherever you look this peak seems inaccessible. There are huge walls to the east, west, north, and south. It is a beautiful mountain and there are still controversies related to its first ascent. " 

"This is a dream for every climber in the world. We worked for a year to climb this peak, but had previously dreamt a lot about it. It is an iconic mountain, a milestone. There is no way we could do without it," Martin Marovski adds. 
 
For a long time Cerro Torre was considered impossible to climb. The first attempts to climb it date back to the 50s of the twentieth century. And its first undisputed ascent was registered in 1974.

A Bulgarian achievement which remains in history, is the premier route called "The Approach Team Line" on the El Mocho needle. The route was published in respected media for mountaineering and climbing - alpinist.com :

"When we started our trip to Patagonia, one of our main goals was to create a new Bulgarian line up there,” Victor Varoshkin says. “Choosing the north wall of El Mocho was a quite logical decision as it was close to our base camp near the eastern wall of Cerro Torre. Choosing a climbing line is a hard thing to do and requires a lot of experience in order to find some weakness in the structure of the wall that would allow you to get to the top. We used all short periods of good weather to advance slowly on the line. Climbing on a new route is much different than using an established one. New routes require a great deal of imagination and a lot of experience, as you are not walking in the footsteps of somebody else."

 
A documentary about the Bulgarian expedition in Patagonia is going to be released in the autumn. After that the climbers plan conquering the Peruvian peak of Artesonraju (6025 meters). The snow pyramid, we know from the logo of "Paramount Pictures" is part of one of the most impressive Peruvian mountains - Siula Grande (6,344 m).

English: Alexander Markov