Mountaineering Patagonia — Local services in El Chaltén

I can’t say enough about my mountain experience with Mountaineering Patagonia and my guide Martín Castrillo. It was an experience of a lifetime. They asked me what I’d hoped to do, see, and experience in the mountains and made it happen beyond my expectations. I’ll never forget many of those moments on the mountain. To top it off, I got to learn from a highly experienced and certified mountain guide, better enabling me for future mountain ascents.

I’d reached out to The American Alpine Institute for possible trips to Patagonia and they put me in touch with Mountaineering Patagonia, who arranged Martín as my guide. Merlin and his team at Mountaineering Patagonia took care of all the logistics, gear, and food flawlessly, allowing me to focus on enjoying the experience and learning from my highly knowledgeable IFMGA Certified guide Martín. They even helped me find a place to stay when weather changed the itinerary a bit.

Martín was a fantastic guide. He assessed my skillset and desires for the experience, then was able to deliver on those wishes, teach me many skillsets for mountain travel, and push me to learn within comfortable safety and preferences. Our itinerary included ice climbing on Glacier Huemul, Ascents of Mojón Rojo and Madsen, and some multi pitch rock climbing. The weather kept us from the initial objective, Gorra Blanca, but I was thrilled at the variation in skillset and terrain offered by Martín’s backup plan. We were able to see more of the mountains and do more things with the alternate itinerary. His knowledge of mountain skills are excellent along with his understanding of the terrain. It was an absolute pleasure and honor to spend the time with him.

Thanks to Mountaineering Patagonia, Martín Castrillo, and American Alpine Institute for the unforgettable experience. I’d recommend them to anyone looking to get on the mountain in...

Our highest recommendations for Mountaineering Patagonia! These guys are professionals. We booked a 4 (+1 day reserve) day tour to climb Gorra Blanca on the Patagonian ice field well in advance of our trip and had a very responsive and seamless communication with Matias and Merlin. When we arrived in El Chaltén the Patagonian weather crossed our plans as there was continuous bad weather on the ice field. We sat together with Matias and our mountain guide Jimmy and stamped out an alternative plan. We would split the days and use a small window of good weather to climb Cerro Solo instead for 2 days. For the remaining days we would see later. The climb was super enjoyable and Jimmy turned out to be the best guide imaginable. With his years of experience he guided us safely every moment of the tour and we had some very nice moments together when we shared stories. For the remaining days we decided to wait for better weather which eventually came. We spontaneously booked another day of guiding so we could eventually do our initially planned tour. It turned out to be one of the most rewarding mountaineering experiences we had so far thanks to the incredible beauty of the Patagonian Ice Field and Jimmy's guiding once again.

We had the most amazing time foremost because of Mountaineering Patagonia's flexibility to adjust plans as needed (and luckily we brought some time ourselves). If you plan on doing some proper mountaineering in El Chalten and feel like taking a guide, go...

I contacted the office and they told me when a good weather window would be and I didn't need to book the guide for more days than necessary. Before the trip I was in contact with the office and I could ask everything about gear and we adapted the date to the weather. Juan Jerez was the best guide I could wish for. We met one day before the climb and talked through the tour, gear and my climbing experience. I got picked up at my hostel with all my gear. On the first day we did the approach. Juan adapted the speed to my fitness level and we arrived early to have a half day break where we enjoyed mate & empanadas in front of Fitz Roy. The weather changed and it rained a bit in the night. Juan made the right decision and we waited a little longer at the tent. On the whole trip I felt super safe with him. The climbing was super fun! We ended up being the first team at the summit! Juan knew the route really good and knew where we could make a detour due to wind condisions or pass another team. We were so fast that we did the tour in 2 days! (up to my decision) I was really happy that we could speed up the tour so I could do another tour in the same weather window by myself. Overall I was super happy with the tour and my guide Juan! Would definitly recommend...