Appropriate season

The south face of Cerro Arenas can be climbed year round, becoming more difficult during winter: shorter days, avalanche risk and presence of verglass on the rock.

Access

Once crossing the police post at San Gabriel, continue by the road that leads to Baños Morales, located on the north shore of the Volcan river. If using public transportation (buses depart from Plaza Italia every Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 AM) it’s better to walk East from the village of Baños Morales by a road that winds along the southern slopes of the Punta Ventana. If using private transportation, it’s better to head East along the south shore, without entering Baños Morales. From Lo Valdes (just opposite Baños Morales) it’s 7 kms until reaching a goat pen located at the foot of “Morro Negro” (Black Hill). There is a boulder of about three meters high surrounded by corrals, just after crossing a bridge. After the bridge, the road splits into two, the left branch going down to the river, and the other toward the “Termas de Colina” (Colina hot springs). Take the first. The road goes on 9 kms from the bifurcation. At the beggining, the road goes down toward the Volcan river and then goes up again, entering the Morado Valley. 2 kms from the bifurcation, and after crossing the river, the road joins that one coming from Baños Morales. Once in front of Cerro Arenas, one must take the road that turns right. This road crosses the Morado river to the East and then goes on a bit further, which is quite comfortable for the descent.

Approach

From the Morado river, climb toward a hill located left of the south face. On top of it there are good camp sites with good views of the wall and few minutes away from the beggining of the climb.

The climb

Leave the campsite an hour before sunrise. Some rocky formations located at the foothills of the mountain will be soon reached: you can either climb them (II-III class) or avoid them going up the snow to the left. Then you’ll reach the base of the first 850 meters of wall, which demands III-IV class climbing (verFoto2 ). This section is climbed well to the right side of the wall; at the beggining, there’s a short narrow and exposed; once overcome, the wall is climbed easily. While climbing, move little by little to the left (it’s possible to find remainings of climbing gear in this section, as well as in the upper part) in order to reach the platform of the upper snowfield (See photo 4). This should take between 4 and 6 hours.

From the platform it’s possible to walk round the snowfield to the left and reach the base of the upper wall in about 5 minutes (verFoto3 ). The 450 meters of this section are climbed in about 14 rope pitches.

Quite close to the south-west ridge there is a chimney (verFoto5). Climb up it and reach the ridge in this first pitch. The remainings of an anchor might be found here. Continue by the ridge, taking little detours to the right or left. The rock is good, with cracks for protection (verFoto6), but not of excellent quality. The last 3 pitches might be climbed by the west face, and with it the technical difficulties are over. The highest difficulty in this route is 5.10a (6a), although it’s possible to avoid the most difficult part (which corresponds to the 11th or 12th pitch) along another variant that seems easier, also close to the ridge.

The summit is about 10 minutes from the exit of the wall, clambering up and down through rocky grades.

To descend one must walk north. Once the summit is passed, to the left (north west) there is a valley: continue traversing without going down before time, for there are rocky spurs that can’t be seen, but which will force either to climb again up the great scree slope, or rappel down. Once the beggining of the valley can be seen, go down directly toward the beggining of it. It's a fast descent (about 2.5 hours), surrounding the mountain until the Arenas Valley is reached.

Recommendations

Gear

Schedule

Schedule 1

1. Santiago-Base of the wall
2. Base of the wall - Summit - Santiago

Schedule 2

1. Santiago - Base of the wall/li>
2. Base of the wall - Summit - Base of the wall
3. Return to Santiago