Many climbers consider the slender granite spike Cerro Torre to be the most beautiful peak in the world. Since Italian Cesare Maestri claimed—likely fraudulently—to reach this Patagonian summit in 1959, the peak has certainly been the most controversial. Technically, it is much more difficult than climbing Everest; there are some years when no climbers make it to the top of Cerro Torre.

In 2012, Austrian climbing prodigy David Lama added his own controversial…(National Geographics)