Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25065
rtical world, the incessant battle against the natural and the of gravity weigh heavily on both the mind and body, humbling the strong and devouring the careless. Laurence and Bruno's demanding mixed rock and ice climb along West Face of Cerro Torre would follow that of the 1974 Ferrari expedition, the first ever undisputed summit of this towering spire. gether they trekked across the immense glaciers of Argentina's Patagonian Andes, gingerly sidestepping hidden crevasses working their way towards the base of Cerro Torre. Laurence (120 pounds) was trekking with her 55-pound gear pack. "I felt like a baby tortoise carrying her grandfather's shell," she said. Ten days after leaving the rumble of Buenos Aires, Laurence and Bruno finally arrived at base camp. It was _90 Celsius in the tent and -180 :2Siႀ䊉 Celsius outside. They only rested briefly for a cappuccino and a Power Bar during the grueling five-hour trek. At base camp, they named their altimeter-an essential weather forecasting tool that ind icates any changes in atmospheric pressure-"The Swiss." The Swiss became the third member of their expedition. The following day, socked in by a snowstorm and unable to continue, the couple patiently waited for the raging storm to end. Forty eight hours later, The Swiss announced clear weather, giving Laurence and Bruno the opportunity to gain some ground in their summit quest. They battled over three feet of freshly-fallen powder for five and a half hours gain a mere 2,100 feet. "The snow stuck to everything, the skis, the and under the trekking ski ns, " Bruno and Laurence wrote with a iniscule pencil in their climbing journal. To add ambiance to an already difficult situation, natural valanches occurred in the gullies and couloirs that surrounded them. the narrow valley the snowfields were scarred with fracture lines