Appropriate season

Between October and March. In spring, the conditions of the snow make the route a little bit tougher and especially exposed to hidden crevasses in the glacier. The season most recommended includes the last weeks of December and the first weeks of January, when the snow is compact and the crevasses are visible and open.

Access

Take the road to Farellones. It's 22 km until the entrance of the Yerba Loca Nature Preserve (Reserva Natural de Yerba Loca), operated by the Chilean National Forestry Corporation (Conaf). You will find the entrance halfway up the road which goes up toward the ski centers of Farellones (El Colorado-Farellones, La Parva, and Valle Nevado), at curve 15. Once at the entrance, expeditioners have to register and pay a set price per person, per day of stay.

From this point, located at approximately 1600 meters, a dirt road of 4 kms., accessible by auto, leads to Villa Paulina (1950m). Here starts the excursion, although many like to stay here to have a cookout, or camp. Many years ago, Villa Paulina, was a mining village that exploited the mines of the Yerba Loca Valley. Today, a beautiful forest and some pines have made the place very welcoming and tempt the visitor to lie down in it's fields.

Approach

From the picnic area, the approach to Camp 1 starts via a pretty well marked trail on the east side of the Yerba Loca stream. At the end of the canyon you can see a tremendous waterfall around whose feet you must skirt to gain the start of a trail that climbs to the sector known as “Piedra Carvajal” (3280m). This journey should take between 5 and 7 hrs.

The climb

The second day consists in going from Piedra Carvajal to Camp 2, sited at the base of the Southeast Glacier, in its moraine. The route from Camp 1 to Camp 2 takes between 1 to 2 hours of walking, via a fairly flat sector, to the point at which the hanging glacier of La Paloma appears verFoto2 . The route toward Camp 2 starts here, turning toward the right (northeast) and one continues climbing via the west side of Falso Altar until arriving to the feet of the eastern limit of the glacier. In this section, it is quite easy to lose the trail and advisable to walk via the glacial moraine until the start of the climb. This sector will take 4 hours, more or less. From this camp, it is possible to attack the summit in what would be a long and hard third day. It is recommended to leave early to be able to descend before mid-day and in this way avoid moving on the mountainside when there is a lot of heat (because of the steep grade, it is common to see avalanches and rockfall).

The first third of the climb of the glacier goes on without any major difficulty, increasing in steepness little by little until reaching a grade of 30-40°. In the second third is what could be the key passage (zona A), verFoto3 of the route, which is a thin, solid bridge that rises in the middle of the wall and that seems to join the high section with the low section of the route. Allthough not technical or very complicated, this passage must be tackled with care; many crevasses, snow bridges, and sections of rotten ice must be overcome, the grade varying between 40 and 50°. Once over this difficulty, the only thing left in the final third is, same as the start, a walk over the glacier, but steeper, reaching up to 45°. In this way, you reach the pass between La Paloma and El Altar, and the possibility remains to reach both summits. To arrive at the summit of La Paloma one must take the summit ridge west and continue along this for a half hour verFoto4 . Depending on the pace, this climb can take between 6 and 8 hours and the descent, which is via exactly the same route, will last at least 4 hours. The total altitude gain from Camp 2 is 1000 meters.

Recommendations

Gear

Schedule

Schedule 1

1. Santiago – Camp 1 (Piedra Carvajal)
2. Camp 1 – Camp 2
3. Camp 2 - Summit – Camp 1 or Camp 2
4. Camp 1 or Camp 2 - Santiago