Before I was a pilot, I was a climber. A big wall soloist to be more specific, climbing for many days at a time on huge, overhanging walls of granite high in the mountains. I thrived on this, and my life revolved around traveling to remote corners of the earth in search of adventure. I have made many trips to the Arctic, Europe, South America, Canada, and other locations for big wall and alpine climbing. But there was something about the southern tip of Patagonia that kept drawing me back over and over, season after season; for four years in a row it was the focus of my attention.

This is the story I wrote for the American Alpine Journal, about my 34 day solo first ascent of the east face of Cerro Escudo, which is located in the Torres del Paine region of Southern Patagonia. It was one of my best ascents, and it took everything I had.

Becoming the first person to ever solo a Grade VII first ascent felt very rewarding, and no one else has matched the feat since. You really have to want it, and be willing to go for it fully committed. All in.

 

 

Dave Turner

December 2007-Januarary 2008

Southern Chile

 

 

Sometimes risk is worth the payoff.

 

My original trip report/post on Supertopo.com

Alpinist NewsWire article

Climbing.com’s article

 

 

I was nominated for the Piolet d’Or award for my ascent, here is the short video which played during the awards ceremony (I was on a wall in Baffin during this)-

Click here to see the video (in french)

 

 

2014 is going to be a huge year for adventure as well, Check out my plans!