Report from August 14, 2025

On Thursday, we went for our very first ski of our “SuperNatural” Ski Trip down here in El Chalten, Patagonia, Argentina.

We went for a big one on day one, and we felt it…

7,040′ Cerro Vespingnani and its glacial terrain beat us down—and we took it with a grin.

This was a challenging day one and it set us up right mentally for the rest of our 2 months here.

7,040′ Cerro Vespignani

El Chalten

Argentina, Patagonia

• Summit:  7,040 feet
• Car:  1,800 feet
• Vertical From Car:  5,240 feet 
• Vertical skied:  4,200 feet
  
• Max Pitch:  38?º
• Average Pitch:  35?º
• Aspect:  East Southeast
• Distance: 9 miles round trip
• Time From Car to Summit:  6 hours & 7 minutes
• Car to Car Time:  9 hours & 15 minutes
• Recommended Equipment:  ropes, crevasse rescue kit, harness, crampons, ice axe, skins

Up at 6:30 am and out the door by 8 am.

1.5-hour bumpy dirt road drive to the trailhead.

We ran into a local guide with some friends and they ran ahead.

Grinding up the lenga tree forest benches by around 9:30 am.

1 hour and 15 minutes and over 1,000 vertical feet later, we finally hit snowline.

I was visibly depressed realizing the current snowline is higher than when we were last here in spring (Oct) 2023.

We were staring a very low snow year directly in the face at this point.

Transition mode.

Gear on:

• Harness
• Skins
• Ski boots

After throwing on his boots, Greggy realized he’d forgotten his skins…

I told him to look everywhere and he simply stated, “They aren’t here.”

We switched to practicing with the drone and snow anchors.

Outta nowhere, he yelled, “I’ve got ’em!”

He’s forgotten that he has a special skin pocket on his pack and found them stashed away.

Back on the summit track after losing about 30 minutes.

Skins on and up.

Not too long after, we took a rest break at the beginning of the glacier up high on the ridgeline.

Rope on.

Things slowed down up high.

Heavy packs, steep kickturns, roped travel, fatigue, and it being day one hit hard.

Heads down.

We hit the summit 6 hours and 7 minutes after leaving the car.

The hike up was gorgeous.

The summit was otherworldly.

Views of hulking peaks, scattered icefalls, and the Southern Patagonian Icefield left us stunned.

We drank in as much as we could and dropped in.

The snow was, in a word, bad.

Punchy, grabby, icy, and unpredictable.

Jagged glacial features made the descent special.

Near the base of the glacier, there were a few good turns at about the perfect black diamond angle.

We savored them.

The lowest skiing was so icy and bad that we resorted to huge back-and-forth traverses to get through it.

To be honest, it was a delight to get the skis and boots off and switch to shoes.

The massive day 1 vertical drop in rugged snow left my bad knee pissed off and my feet reeling from their first time in ski boots in 10 weeks.

The steep, icy, slippery walk down the final 1,000 vertical feet was humbling.

9 hours and 15 minutes car to car.

At the car, we greedily quaffed the water and inhaled the apple empanadas we had waiting for us.

We were absolutely smoked!

We left home in the dark and we were driving in the dark again.

It was all we could do to devour as much food and water as possible back home and pass out.

We didn’t get home until after 8 pm.

What a big, beautiful beat down of a day.

This place is special.

Thanks, Patagonia!

Photos in Chronological Order