Chile/Argentina 2026: Villa Cerro Castillo
After a day of skiing above Santiago with new friends it was time to head south. This year, Micheal Cariello agreed to meet me in Chile for a ski expedition with our sights set on Monte San Lorenzo, a peak whose map I’ve had on my wall for nearly a year.
Mike arrived in Santiago and we caught a plane down to Balmaceda, near Coyhaique Chile. We were meeting up with Ignacio and Max. I had met Ignacio in El Chalten the year prior as he was skiing and climbing there during my 5 weeks in 2025. Max I had met through Matthew Tufts, a photographer who frequents Chalten, during a classic chalten asado. Max is one of the OG skiers in El Chalten along with being an IFMGA guide.
Our plan was to stage in Cerro Castillo for our expedition. Upon arriving in Balmaceda we waited for a few hours outside of the airport for Max & Ignacio to pick us up. They arrived and we were one step closer to our objective. After about an hour and a half we arrived at our accommodations for the night just outside of Villa Cerro Castillo. After nearly thirty minutes of trying to find the keys we finally found them and began our next task, fixing the water pump as there was no running water.
We decided our efforts were futile after nearly an hour and headed to town for some food. We sat down and the news was broken to us that they didn’t want to wait our weather. At the time we had to just roll with the punches but this was a major blow to us. Neither Max nor Ignacio told us this before we arrived and made us change plans night one.
The next morning we headed out for a mellow ski hunting spring conditions. We had a leisurely start time and were at the trailhead around 9:45.
We began up a large bowl to a ridge, seeking to descend an east face warm with morning sun. After a quick smoke and snack break we all descended on smooth sun-soaked corn.
I was fired up! Sunshine and little wind is a rarity in Patagonia so I knew just how special this day was.
We ascended back up to our original ridge and descended to the bottom of the bowl to climb another east face. We began up again and it was more do the same, hot sun and no wind.
At the top we found a local guide with clients from England, France, Austrialia.
We transitioned and headed down. More sunny skiing and hero snow.
Arriving back at the car we were all smiles. A relativity perfect day to start Mike and I’s trip, and it was just getting started.
We hung out all afternoon at our accommodations and rested after our marathon travel days. That night Max had plans for an asado with some of his friends so Ignacio, Mike, & myself had our own.
While Ignacio tended to the fire for our carne, I tinkered with a 2-stroke dirt bike I found on the property. Ignacio informed me that his friend, whom we rented the cabin from, wanted us to start the bike if we could.
After about 10 minutes of tinkering, the bike turned over and held a strong idle. I took the bike for a few laps around the property and couldn’t be happier.
Motorcycles, mountains and meat comprised the day.
We took some photos of the landscape, had our asado and headed off to bed as we had a 12 hour drive up to Bariloche the next day.
While Mike and I were bummed our partners didn’t want to see our intended expedition through, we found solace in the fact that Bariloche had a perfect weather window on the horizon for us.
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