Appropriate season

December to March. However, Cerro Pintor can be easily ascended all year long. During the winter weather conditions become extreme. Wind chill factor is significant, because the route is very exposed to the north wind.

Access

Taking Camino de Farellones, follow the road to the La Parva ski area. At the Ski Center, depending whether the roads are open or not (they are normally covered with snow in the spring and winter), hike or drive toward the highest point, following the dirt roads that lead from the bottom of the ski area to the pass between Cerro Falsa Parva and Cerro Franciscano. From the beginning of the Camino de Farellones it will take between an hour and a half and two hours to reach the pass, which is at 3450 meters. If the dirt roads in the ski area are not usable (because they are covered with snow), the hike will extend the journey between two and three hours.

Approach

There is no approach.

The climb

If you start from the La Parva ski area, you should climb through the Barros Negros sector to Piuquenes, occasionally crossing a gully. The route in this part isn't very clear, and demands very good orientation on the part of hikers. Use as a good reference the rock towers of Cerro Falso Parva, which one can see looking up to the left of the pass. You should reach the area of the pass, just beneath of which is the trail that goes towards the valley of the Molina River, or towards the Valle Nevado ski area.

From the pass, climb Cerro Falsa Parva. This part of the route takes less than an hour, and climbs via whichever of the tracks zig-zag up toward Falsa Parva (on the west and east of the peak). When you reach the summit of Falsa Parva, follow the gently inclining, marked trail which leads in the direction of Cerro Plomo, and which runs along the ridgeline of peaks toward the sumit of Cerro Leonera (See photo 2).

From Falsa Parva (3.740m), in less than 20 minutes you will reach and begin surrounding Cerro La Parva (3.970m), which is on the right side of the trail. Finally, when you reach the pass between Cerro La Parva and Cerro Pintor, follow the track that after several successive switchbacks reaches the summit of Cerro Pintor (4.220m) (See photo 1). From the pass to Cerro Pintor it takes between two and a half hours and three hours, on average.

Gear

Schedule

Schedule 1

1. Santiago-Summit-Santiago

Schedule 2

1. Santiago-Piuquenes Lake
2. Piuquenes Lake-Summit-Santiago