Kristoffer Szilas and Kasper Berkowicz just returned to Denmark from a successful Cerro Torre ascent together with British Jim Broomsfield.

On February 6, 2008, the team climbed the Compressor Route on Cerro Torre on their first try during their first visit to Patagonia.

Says Szilas:

"We had two bivies on the way up and one on the way down climbing alpine style. During the climb we only had 2-3 hours of sleep each night, so it meant some very long days of climbing. Basically it was just a matter of sitting out the night so we could climb on."

"The weather was perfect on the climb itself, but there was rain before and after. The timing of the ascent was perfect as the weather windows in Patagonia are notoriously short.

The main difficulties were found on the route's first three pitches aswell as on the head wall. The sun was shining all the time, but high winds made it a chilling experience, especially on the descent, where the ropes where sometimes blown straight up in the sky during abseils."

"The summit mushroom was not very difficult this year and the rime climbing on the final 20 meters was very enjoyable. This climb has been a dream for the three of us ever since we started climbing."

The team also tried the other super classic of the area, the French-Argentinian route on Fitzroy, where they had to turn back 150 meters below the summit.

Kasper Berkowicz is a UIAA/UIAGM mountain guide candidate in Sweden.

Kristoffer Szilas says he will try Cassin Route on Denali together with his compatriot Allan Christensen in June 2008.