The Course
Patagonian Mountain Skills Course

The aim of the course is to give students the opportunity to develop a solid foundation of backcountry travel and mountaineering skills. Traveling through the remote Patagonian wilderness will bring not just a huge array of new experiences and breathtaking sights but also the knowledge of how to look after themselves in this challenging and rewarding environment.

Students will make our way through many different types of landscape, from open rolling alpine meadows dotted with tarns, to crashing through beech forest to the grandeur and awe inspiring beauty of a snow covered glacier. Each of these very different environments demands new skills that the guides will teach as an integral part of your journey.

This expedition is the perfect stepping stone to expand the horizons of what expedition members are capable of. Even if they have no previous backcountry or mountaineering experience, the experienced guides will show students how to thrive in the wilderness. We start at the beginning, teaching the basic day to day skills of mountain life: moving with a heavy backpack, selecting and securing a campsite, and staying warm and dry in inclement weather.

Every day on this “expedition of a lifetime time” will bring new delights. One day it will be the visceral thrill of scaling a vertical ice wall for the first time. The next day it may be the majesty of a condor circling overhead, giving us the chance to sit and watch and savor the moment.

Living out in the wilderness for an extended period of time gives everyone the chance to change the rhythm of their living and truly appreciate this unique and untouched place. During our expeditions, we expect to see no one else. There are increasingly fewer and fewer places in the world where you can say this. The feeling of being so far from civilization and to having the wilderness resounding around you is one of the most treasured memories that our clients take home with them.

This course will be a rich and rewarding experience. We will go to places few other people go, see things few other people see and face challenges you might once have thought you were not capable of.