Jim Reynolds, Mountaineer Fitz Roy: "I knew very well that death was a possibility"

In the early hours of March 22, a smiling young man hurriedly left the foot of Mount Fitz Roy to go to the front.
El Chalten, the city of mountaineers located in the mountains, in the province of Santa Cruz. "I was walking under the full moon and I was happy, it was a good time, then I started to appreciate what I had done," Jim Reynolds said.

What he had just done is a
Climbing feat that took its name from celebrity in a discipline that usually does not appear in the papers. Reynolds, 25, a square-frame sunglbades and contagious enthusiasm, climbed alone and unprotected – with no ropes or harness – on the last 1524 meters to the top of Fitz Roy. That would have already placed him at the top of his sport, but Reynolds has done something even more difficult. After recording the moment in the inevitable selfie, he descended, alone and unprotected, on the side of the mountain. "I never thought I was going to die, even though I knew very well that it was a possibility," he admits to LA NACION on a flight scale that leads him to the Argentina, California, where he resides.

Climbing in full solo, as the Reynolds style calls it, is very dangerous and fashionable. It is up to climb mountains using only the strength and skill of the climber 's hands and feet. There is no protection. A minimal error results in certain death. The specialty lives an unusual era of glory thanks to the documentary Free Solo, which won the Oscar. It shows Alex Honnold, the king of the discipline, climbing one of the walls of El Capitán, the mythical mountain of Yosemite, in the United States.

– Why do you take the risk of climbing without a rope?

– it's my way of expressing myself and being in a total relationship with nature. Those of El Chalten are the most beautiful mountains I have seen in my life. The whole situation of being alone on the mountain is of extreme beauty.

Looking for adrenaline?

No It is impossible to be with adrenaline during the 15 hours and 25 minutes that lasted the expedition. It does not give you the physique.

-And why are you doing it then?

-It is difficult to explain. I do it for personal reasons, without any waiting. It is the most beautiful and purest expression of climbing. When we see the possibility of doing incredible things, we have to do it because these situations are unique. I do not take advantage of the opportunity to hurt myself, but I take advantage of the absolute concentration that this possibility generates. Also, I like being alone in the mountains.

With very few exceptions, where exploits such as Reynolds reach the top of the newspapers or an Oscar, climbers live in their private world, but very much crossed by codes of honor, systems to evaluate the value of their explorations. This universe holds a place for the first to climb a mountain, or to discover an alternative route to the usual to reach the summit. Now that most peaks are explored, the race is made by who does it faster. Or even baduming the greatest risk. With his recent rise, Reynolds has just won a place of privilege in this daring ranking. However, there are those who look at this career with suspicion.

"I'm afraid we're using the definite possibility of killing you as a creative tool or as a measure to measure sportsmanship," said Rolo Garibotti, Dean of the Santa Cruz Explorers. At the age of 48, Rolo is generous with the information that he has accumulated over his long career and has received Reynolds at his home in El Chalten. He had just come down after his feat and Rolo congratulated him. Later he told him what he thought.

The first thing he admitted was that he was hypocritical. At his age, Rolo also made risky expeditions. However, he already has 30 dead climbing friends, one for each year he participates in the activity. "By cons, when I go to meetings of my high school clbadmates, they are all alive and the life expectancy of mountaineers is too low," he says. "Since the Roman Empire, the theater has found elements of expression that do not include lions on stage, we are always gladiators, we risk our lives to express our art," he added. there.

Although he is no longer able or interested to follow them, Rolo includes Reynolds and Honnold. "The body," he explains, "gives you an emotional return when you expose yourself to these borderline situations, that the hormones gush out and that you have a great deal of experience." However, he believes that the escalation must generate a culture in which the risk is not the only value and he fears that the success of Free Solo does not oppose it. "The influences of cultural icons are very powerful," he warns.

Ignoring this debate, Reynolds prepares to take advantage of summer in Yosemite, where he works as a lifeguard. He did not see Honnold's film because he says he has not had a chance yet. His father, on the other hand, did not see him because he prefers not to know what Reynolds is about. "They always support me, they trust me," he says of his family.

In addition to climbing, Reynolds plays mandolin and martial arts. In the most complex part of the Fitz Roy's ascent – when he was coming down, exhausted at night – he was shouting samurai who were demanding extreme concentration. "Good job, Jim, you got there," he self-repeated when he was finally down to earth.