Appropriate season

Between October and March. In spring the snow conditions may be somewhat unstable, but nearing the summer it becomes good enough to allow for a safe progress. In mid summer there are sections of pretty hard snow, exposed crevasses and snowfields with penintentes up to 3 feet high, all which slows down the progress on the mountain. Probably December is the best month, since the glacier is still pretty closed and the penitentes are still few and small.

Access

From Santiago take the road which takes to Cajón del Maipo. Once you arrive at police post at San Gabriel, follow the dirt road which takes to Baños Morales, located on the north shore of the El Volcán river. From Baños Morales, continue along the road which leaves the village toward the east. This road winds along the south slopes of Punta Ventana and then enters the beautiful Morado valley. In this sector the road becomes relatively flat and, after crossing a couple of streams, it is possible to reach the end of the road, depending on the conditions of terrain (the road may be blocked with snow or boulders) and the vehicle used (a 4x4 is best, though not a must).

Approach

From the end of the road, it is an hour hiking toward the northwest until reaching the site of base camp, which is just by the small Laguna del Morado (3200m), just at the base of the homonymous mountain. In some times of the year, the road from Baños Morales may be blocked by snow or boulders. The hike from Baños Morales to Laguna del Morado takes from 6 to 8 hours.

The climb

From base camp(CB), it is possible to see to the west, a great brown rock face crossed down up by a snowfield which gets lost beneath a line of threatening seracs... The route goes that way. If we pay attention, you will see from base camp a cone shaped snowfield which ends at the base of the wall, very close to a little water course which trickles down the rock, See photo 2. Here starts the climbing on poor quality rock, but with no technical difficulties, except a couple of somewhat exposed sections. The route starts up a small rock couloir which heads diagonally to the north (P1) See photo 2. The route is not very clear, nor is there a unique way up. The important thing is to keep going up, but always trying to reach a couple of snowfields which make the ascent easier and safer See photo 5. Depending on the season´s temperatures this description might change, but there are generally two great snowfields on the wall, beneath the serac line. In this way we reach high camp (C1) See photo 1 (3900m), located just above the border of the glacier. It is about 6-8 hours from base camp to high camp.

The summit bid isn´t too long (4-5 hrs), although pretty tiring, especially when the glacier presents many crevasses and the sun has already formed great penientes. From high camp the route crosses the glacier in north direction, making a traverse with little altitude gain, until being exactly beneath Morado´s north summit. From there, the route goes straight up. In the middle of this last part there is a short section of rotten ice and 50º (P2) See photo 4. From there to the summit it is just 150 meters.

The descent to high camp can take between 2 and 3 hrs. The descent from high camp to base camp is somewhat complicated. A couple of sections are harder going down than going up, and there are not many safe places where to install a rappel, requiring to downclimb. It should take 4-5 hours from high camp to base camp.

Gear

Schedule

Schedule 1

1. Santiago – Laguna
2. Laguna – high camp
3. High camp – summit - high camp
4. High camp - Santiago

Schedule 2

1. Santiago - Laguna
2. Laguna - Cumbre - Laguna
3. Laguna - Santiago