No chance that guy will ever stand on Cerro Torre. I m not a great climber, but I m better at wasting time than any alpinist I ve ever met. After all, I was in the Army for seven years. Here, based on my experience, are a few key points on the alpine art of wasting time. The best guarantee of success is a lot of time.
Every season has good weather.
Even Patagonia, a place notorious for vicious storms, has perfect weather. It just doesn t happen very often. And expeditions with lots of time are less likely to run big risks trying to make the impossible happen. The storm goes on and on, and the wind howls day in and day out, and you eat and sleep and roll over and read and drink and roll over and the wind howls and the tent flaps and you haven t moved in days and you can t sleep and one morning boom the weather is good. Your mountain stands there in the crystal sky.