British Cerro Aguilera 1997

On arrival in Chile, this team found that the first mate of the sailing vessel Pelagic had been injured and hence forced to return to the UK. Without him, Novak was not prepared to navigate the hazardous waters round Aguilera. They therefore turned their attention to Tierra del Fuego and, in particular, the unclimbed Mt Aosta, c 1,524m, but were refused permission to enter the fjords to the north. In the worst weather they had ever encountered in the area (and that's saying quite a lot!) they attempted a route on Mt Italia, c2,134m, in the Darwin Ranges, but were beaten by deep soft snow and an underlying tangle of rotting tree-trunks and roots.