Patagonia Skiing: A Fish, A Parrot & 8 Waterfalls

Report from September 7, 2026

We saw this zone from across the valley about 3 days prior, on the day we discovered the tree skiing.

The truth is, all I could make out from afar was a smooth panel coming off a vicious headwall that kinda looked like the forbidden “The Cirque” at Kirkwood, CA.

The plan was the big panel.

Stats:

2,752 vertical feet
4.63 miles
3 hours & 16 minutes to the top
6 hours & 9 minutes round trip

We traversed a meadow, crossed a creek, and strode up a lighthearted forest.

The travel was easy on good snow coverage through well-spaced timber.

The last bit was damn steep and icy, but we managed fairly well.

Once on the ridge, life got simple.

Follow the ridgeline all the way up.

This wasn’t the original plan and it worked nicely.

That damn ridge even delivered us directly onto the summit plateau we sought via a more direct route than planned.

A win.

The top was windless, always a gift in this part of the world.

We took our time on top, enjoyed bizarre views of Jackson Hole-style terrain on the Argentine border, and ate PBJs.

Our original plan of skiing the big panel was thrown out during the climb.

Skip found an hourglass chute he liked and I saw a convoluted no-fall-zone with a spire that looked like spicy fun.

I dropped first and the snow hadn’t quite softened up top.

I put my guard up and dug in.

10 turns in, the snow got soft and the rocks got hard.

More rocks than expected stuck out, swung for my skis, and kept me on my toes.

The big rock spire was shaped like a samosa.

The rocks around the samosa left just enough room for me to sneak through and I was out on the apron in an instant after a small, kind air over a little windlip right at the exit.

The apron snow was forgiving and I glided to a contented stop in the flats below.

Skip crushed his hourglass chute, then kept it running down the mountain and onto the big, bizarre, flat spine that ran between 2 creeks right down into a thick infestation of waterfalls.

Skip during a quiet moment on the summit. Image: SnowBrains

I followed and felt high as I pulled off my skis and drank in the view of a triple cascade in the warm sunshine.

We lingered.

About 5 waterfalls just above us and at least 3 more below.

We were in a tricky zone.

A wide traverse got us around the first waterfall.

A small cliff huck got us around the second.

A damn near vertical sidestep and a convoluted traverse to a narrow mini-chute got us around the third.

Happy to be on flat ground again, I dunked my skis in the creek to clean off the dirt and spent some time there tripping out on the way the water boiled over my skis and bent the light.

When I snapped out of it to leave, I spooked a fish that dug itself into the muddy bank, sending streams of brown down the crystalline stream.

It’s not often that you see a fish on a ski mountaineering day.