patagonia

I expect most of us have experienced it at some time in our lives: escaping the office for a few weeks of sunshine, only to end up somewhere wetter than a haddock’s bathing costume. Nobody likes rain, but sometimes it just won’t stop.

Sometimes it’s useful to have low expectations so that when the impossible doesn’t happen, you’re not disappointed. This is especially true in Patagonia, where the weather is temperamental. I didn’t have high hopes of reaching the summit of 3706m Cerro San Lorenzo, but I was determined to give it a go.

There’s not really a good time of year to visit Chilean Patagonia. Quite a lot of wind circulates the globe at that latitude and slams into its mountains with full force, producing severe and prolonged storms and freezing temperatures. So why will I be returning there this Christmas for the first time in ten years?

Rising above the Southern Patagonian Ice Field on the border of Chile and Argentina is a narrow finger of rock 3128 metres in height that for over 50 years has been a source of controversy among the climbing community. Last

My 5 wettest mountain adventures

Cerro San Lorenzo and the Patagonian summer

Why would anyone spend Christmas in Patagonia?

A short history of Cerro Torre, the world’s most controversial mountain