Course Life
Patagonia Snow School and Volcano Summit Attempt

Sample Day

After an early start, the group will start their trek to the base camp, Otto Meiling, where you will spend the following nights in a refugio only a few hundred meters away from one of the main glaciers on Tronador. The group will spend the evenings overlooking the magnificent Lake District. As the weather window to attempt the summit opens, the group will head out towards the summit with their technical equipment packed, well before sunrise. After a long and tiring way up in a rope team, navigating a safe way through crevasse areas and snow fields of the glacier, the group has to master the last and most technical part of the summit. The views from the summit are absolutely amazing, seeming endless on a good day - you will have a true feel of being on top of the world in Patagonia! The return journey will seem swift, with the view of the refugio getting clearer and clearer. The summit team will spend the night at the base camp and refuel with energy.

Sample Week

Having met in Bariloche, the group will transfer to the nearby GVI base camp to prepare food, equipment and get briefed on details of the summit attempt. After this initial preparation, the group will transfer to the trailhead and start their ascent to the base camp of Tronador – refugio Meiling. During the days before the summit attempt, the group will explore the vast snowfields and glaciers in the area below the summit. You will be introduced to how to organise rope teams on glacial terrain, crampons and ice axe techniques, crevasse rescue techniques, self arrest techniques and ice or rock climbing. When the window of good weather arises, the group will use the first chance they get to attempt the summit. On a lucky day, you might get a close view of an Andean condor as it soars in the Patagonian winds as you are practicing you newly learnt skills.