Patagonia
The mountains of Southern Patagonia need no introduction. Jeff and I planned a full month in the area in early 2020 right before the pandemic hit, and in the process had some of the most exhilarating and unforgettable mountain experiences of my life.
We arrived as a brief weather window was opening, and took full advantage. We would have plenty of time to enjoy Chalten later! After showing up in the afternoon, we quickly packed for the mountains, and headed out the next morning. We set our sights on the Amy-Vidailhet route on Aguja Guillaumet, a steep mixed couloir which connects with the Comesaña-Fonrouge route to the summit. We opted to approach from Paso Superior, making for a bit longer of a hike in but gave us incredible views of the range. After a bivy, we set out before sunrise and navigated the crevasses to get to the base of the route. Crossing the shrund was luckily easy, and swinging leads for about 5 pitches of steep snow got us onto the rock, where beautiful granite led us to the summit snowfield. The weather was changing, and windier than anything I have experienced before. Getting down was a bit of an adventure itself, but we soon were back on the glacier and by the next day we were drinking beers back in town.
A week or so later, another brief break in the weather came, but winds were predicted to be very high at altitude, so we decided on a day trip mountaineering adventure up Cerro Solo. The Cara Este route involves navigating the choss of the lower mountain before you get on a crevassed glacier leading to the summit. The hike in alone incredible, and the summit views of Cerro Torre, Cerro Chalten, and the ice cap made for a really fun day out.
After another week waiting in town, the forecast called for a 24 hour weather window, the biggest of our trip. We decided to aim for Aguja Poincenot, the second highest peak in the Chalten group. Aiming for Cerro Chalten itself seemed far too risky, given the length of the routes and the window being about half of what we would want. It turned out we absolutely made the right call, and had a hell of an adventure, climbing a massive route in serious alpine terrain, and getting caught in the beginnings of a proper Patagonia storm as we were stepping off the summit.
After a bivy at Paso Superior, we set out around 2am, and made the steep and scary traverse onto the Whillans Ramp in the dark. The ramp itself felt like it went on for miles, and was much steeper than it looked from a distance. After the ramp we took the leftmost option at the crux section, involving some thin rock climbing followed by mixed terrain. After we got around onto the south face of the mountain I managed to head up the wrong crack system for a while, but thanks to Jeff’s alpine trickery we were back onto the proper route in no time.
We simuled almost the entirety of the route, definitely the fastest and most sustained climbing I had done on that sort of terrain. As we were nearing the top we got passed by Brett Harrington and her partners from AK on their way down, and we passed Jeff and Priti Wright on their own ascent. As we got to the summit itself, the weather was really starting to change, hours earlier than expected. The feeling of being on top was incredible, and the whipping clouds and winds made for really wild glimpses of the other peaks. Jeff and Priti caught up to us right as we were starting our descent.
The way down proved to be an epic itself. We coreshot one of our ropes on the first of about 25 raps, which is a great start during a storm. The winds prevented us from throwing or dropping our ropes, so we had to saddlebag and untangle as we went. But with Jeff and Priti joining to make a team of four, we were able to move quickly and safely and avoid any fuckups. As we got lower the storm turned to driving rain, soaking us entirely. We hoped that once we got back onto the ramp the weather would be less intense, but we were fully in it the whole way. We managed to do a tensioned traversing rappel past the traverse, and looking up during a break in the clouds revealed how entirely massive the mountain above us was.
Once on the glacier, we parted ways with Jeff and Priti as they camped in a different spot. We got sandblasted by snow and ice on the way back to Paso Superior, and were thrilled to see our tent entirely underwater when we got there due to the high temps that the storm brought. Lovely. My fingers were starting to change color and I was extremely cold and fully drenched, so staying there was not an option. We quickly packed up our fully soaked sleeping bags and kit and headed down towards town where temps would be warmer. By now we had been on the go for about 18 hours, and were feeling pretty worked. Once we were down at the lake the temps started to finally feel warmer but the rain didn’t let up. We decided to move lower down and into the woods a couple hours further where we figured we could finally get out of the rain in one of the wooden shelters where the old Rio Blanco campground used to be.
Once at the old campground, we managed to “dry” out some of our kit as we warmed up our remaining food for dinner. Wringing out and fluffing up our sleeping bags worked surprisingly well, and after almost 24 hours on the go we were finally in our still-wet sleeping bags dozing off.
We made it back to town the following morning, and met back up with Jeff and Priti for victory drinks and dinner. What a climb!!
Our Patagonia adventure wasn’t over just yet! The forecast was absolutely trash for the next week, so rather than drink in town, we decided to hop on a short flight to Frey and drink there! Frey hadn’t been on my radar, but after having ice cream and a beer with Scott Eubank at Domo Blanco he convinced us we should head there to enjoy some summer alpine rock climbing.
Frey is as alpine rock playground in the summer, and a ski destination in the winter. A four hour scenic hike takes you right into the heart of the area, and a hut with great food and plenty of wine meant we didn’t have to bivy or carry anything beyond some clothes and our climbing kit. We drank about as many bottles of wine as pitches we climbed, and both were incredible. The summit of Torre Principal gave incredible views of the range, and we got to share it with a handful of Argentinian soldiers on a training climb. The food and wine was great, and the hut had a really fun scene of climbers and trekkers. I would definitely put Frey on any climber’s list!
Climbing was the main goal of the trip of course, but when you visit a place like Patagonia that gives you only a few days per month of viable weather, you end up spending lots of time exploring the region, eating, drinking, sightseeing, and meeting awesome new people. Some of the best memories of the trip were had at restaurants and breweries, sightseeing and birdwatching, and experiencing the Argentine culture. Can’t wait to go back!
