Sean Villanueva O’driscoll is the King of Patagonia

Belgian alpinist Sean Villanueva O’driscoll moved to Patagonia at the start of covid-19 and still hadn’t left by this spring. He’s been one of only a few climbers in the region for the past year-and-a-half. He made the first ascent of the mega Moonwalk Traverse, solo, across Fitz Roy massif, in mid-australsummer, which is possibly the most impressive climb ever made in Patagonia. The route is over four kilometres and he freed it at 5.11. He only carried one rope for the many rappels and said it had nearly disintegrated after the push. He then made the first ascent of El Chaltenense, a 500-metre 5.12 offwidth up Fitz Roy’s south face with Jon Griffin. And then he added two new 5.12 climbs up the north face of El Mocho near Cerro Torre: Chalten Sin Clecas, which means Chalten without Tick-marks, with Mecha Rocamora; and Chalten sin Chapas, which means Chalten Without Bolts, with Matías Korten. Chalten Sin Clecas is described by Villanueva as “excellent climbing with a little of everything, mossy wet cracks, blind moves behind arêtes and a hand jam roof crack with feet cutting loose, followed by a feet-first move. The whole shebang.” We don’t know if he’ll ever leave Patagonia, but until he does, it’s fair to say that he’s the king of Patagonia.