Returning to Patagonia
March 9 - April 1, 2025
I was largely satisfied after spending 3 months in Patagonia in 2024 and had no immediate plans to come back until my friend Michael proposed something I couldn’t say no to: getting paid to fly back down as a model and photographer for a clothing company he works with. I flew to Punta Arenas in early March. We spent a week driving around Chilean Patagonia in his van modeling clothing and engaging in much tomfoolery, alongside Michael’s partner Melissa and friend Zach. Both Michael and Melissa drove the Pan American highway all the way Ushuaia and met each other on the road along the way.
Packing my bags near Lone Pine
Vamos!
Chaltén Massif from the plane
First image of the trip... not a bad start
Hanging outside of Torres del Paine
Unsure why Michael was taking photos with no mountains in sight
On the clock
After wrapping up the clothing photoshoot we headed north to El Chalten. It felt special to be back in the divine presence of the Chalten Massif. A large storm gave way to a promising weather window the day after we arrived, so I wasted no time heading straight into the mountains. A sense of familiarity washed over me as I started hiking from Rio Electrico; it felt like no time had passed since last year. My loose plan was to carry five days of food and climb some combination of Cerro Electrico, Paso del Cuadrado, and Loma Blanca. I hiked partway up the climbers trail to Paso del Cuadrado the first night and slept at a very nice bivy spot underneath a huge overhanging boulder. The drone flight from this spot the next morning was nothing short of spectacular with the Chalten Massif adorned by alpenglow and fresh rime ice.
I carried my obscenely heavy pack a couple thousand more vertical feet up to the base of Paso del Cuadrado and set up camp at Piedra Negra. Later that evening I headed up to Paso del Cuadrado. Topping out at the pass, I was greeted with a heart stopping view reminding me that something elemental and powerful seems to reside in the Chalten Massif that I don’t quite have words for. It was perfectly calm up here with nobody else around. I stayed up there shooting well after sunset, descending in the dark to my tent at Piedra Negra.
My plan for the next day was to climb Cerro Electrico. However, I was feeling quite tired from the previous day carrying my overpacked bag all the way up here (I was also definitely out of backpacking shape—the last time I did anything difficult in the mountains was 9 months ago in Peru). The 4000’ vertical feet of semi-consequential terrain between me and the summit of Cerro Electrico didn’t look terribly fun, plus I had just flown the drone above the summit the previous morning. Drones are making me soft! I decided to just enjoy a leisurely day where I already was in the cirque below Aguja Guillamet. Late in the day I started descending to put myself in position to potentially climb Loma Blanca the following day. One of the most intense sunsets I’ve seen in Patagonia happened that evening while walking in a spot with very little to work with in terms of photography, which I was slightly annoyed about, though it was way too windy to fly the drone even I still had been up at Paso del Cuadrado.
The following day I basically just walked to the tongue of the Marconi glacier, bailed on my intention to climb Loma Blanca out of some combination of concern for my safety and lack of determination, and walked back up to the bivy boulder from the first night of the trip. A very long day of carrying a heavy backpack around for no reason. I then woke up for sunrise, flew the drone again, and had a lovely and introspective walk through the forest back to the road where I hitched a ride to town. I was feeling immensely grateful to be here and for the support from various people, especially Michael for getting me down here and letting me borrow his drone, Ty Lekki (who has probably photographed the Chalten Massif more extensively than anybody) for letting me borrow a bunch of equipment, Rolo Garibotti (who has spent 30+ years climbing in these mountains and literally wrote the climbing guidebook for the area) for sharing route information and offering to send weather updates via inReach while I was out there, and Ali Rockwell for gifting me a whole bunch of her late husband’s equipment last year after I found his body in the Sierra. Many of the trips I’ve done have been solo crucibles of willpower and resourcefulness, and it was nice to reflect on the fact that other people can help you go way further with much more ease… still an area of learning for me.
A few days later, Ty asked if I wanted to film him as he attempted to set a speed record for climbing Cerro Electrico. I sat by the road and communicated with him via radio to time my drone flights. Filming climbing footage was totally new to me and a really fun experience. I still need to edit the footage but Ty put together this short montage:
Two days later, incredible conditions developed at sunset. I wished I was out in the mountains but flew the drone from near town up above the cloud inversion layer.
