Seán Villanueva-O’Driscoll Completes Massive Solo of Paine Towers, Patagonia

Seán Villanueva-O’Driscoll made history in February when he completed a stunning solo traverse of the Paine Towers in Torres del Paine National Park, Chilean Patagonia. His skyline traverse, named Travesía Doble M (5.11 A2; 2,200m), is the first time all four summits have been connected in a push. Friend and guidebook author Rolando Garibotti recently broke the news on his website Pataclimb.com.

Villanueva-O’Driscoll had an extraordinarily successful February in the Paine group. Early in the month, he was part of the first team-free ascent of Riders on the Storm (5.13a; 1,300m) with Siebe Vanhee, Nicolas Favresse, and Drew Smith over 18 stormy days. Afterward, when his teammates left, he decided to pursue some lighter, faster, and more solitary experiences in the mountains. “It kind of came to me in a dream, as I was recovering from a broken elbow in December,” he told Climbing, “and it seemed I wasn’t going to be able to go to Patagonia at all. After Riders On The Storm I didn’t think I would have the opportunity to try—I had let go of the idea—but then just as I was about to move on to Chaltén, I saw a weather window in the forecast and I decided to stay.”

Villanueva-O’Driscoll hiked into Campo Británico on February 22 with a less-than-ideal forecast: rain that night and then four days of good but cold weather. Sure enough, when he awoke the following morning his equipment was soaked and the granite towers above him wore a wintry coat. Nevertheless, “I was happy to be back in the mountains,” he said. “I felt my chances of succeeding on the traverse were low, but that did not matter to me. I was just going to take a look to see how far I could go.”

Villanueva-O’Driscoll spent the morning hiking into the remote De Agostini valley and had a late start on Torre Sur via its classic Il Lungo Sogno (5.10 A2 60˚ snow; 900m). He climbed several pitches and fixed his ropes before bivouacking at the base of the wall. “The only difficulty with conditions was the [following] morning,” he said. “The rock was covered in rime and ice, making the climbing … difficult and slow. I free climbed one icy hand crack, but the next pitch was an even icier offwidth chimney and I had to resort to aid climbing.” The challenging rime melted out later that day as temperatures warmed and Villanueva-O’Driscoll was able to speed through the remaining terrain. He summited Torre Sur that evening, rappelled partially by headlamp, and set up camp at the base of Torre Central.

Villanueva-O’Driscoll described the bivouacks as “magical!” and cited one key gear improvement since his last gigantic alpine solo (of the entire Cerro Chaltén/Fitz Roy skyline) in 2021. “At the Piolets d’Or event I gave a little slideshow about the Moonwalk Traverse [5.11; 4,000m],” he explained. “When the people from Samaya saw a photo of the relatively heavy tent I used, they came up to me afterward and put a lightweight tent in my hands.” Even so, carrying five days of equipment is a massive undertaking for a technical soloist. Villanueva-O’Driscoll said he rarely free soloed—only the easiest scrambling sections—and mainly rope soloed with his pack clipped to the belay. “I hauled some pitches, but mostly I jumared with the backpack [during] my second time going up the pitch, because hauling the bag would get stuck—forcing me to go down again.”

Day three brought tricky route finding on Torre Central’s rarely climbed Kearney-Knight (5.10 A2; 850m), followed by an evening descent down its north side and a headlamp ascent of Torre Norte’s Monzino (5.10b; 200m). Villanueva-O’Driscoll stopped just shy of the summit. “I was worried about my window closing,” he says. “That’s why I kept moving. I only slept two hours [that] night.” He tagged the summit the next morning, quickly descended, and launched up the steep Puro Filete (5.11 A1; 300m) on La Peineta while clouds rolled in. The summit, and a relatively easy descent, gave him the opportunity—finally—to relax.

Villanueva-O’Driscoll was characteristically upbeat and appreciative when asked about his favorite moment from the traverse. (“All of it.”) His least favorite moment?

“There were none.

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