Father of Sebastian, Lisa, Bandido & Lillie.
José Miguel Potthoff Pugin is married to Sandra, living between September and March on the slopes of the Calbuco Volcano, in Chile, and the rest of the year near the Alps, in Lower Austria.
He studied "Visual Communication Design" to understand the world in other ways than just the purely vertical of climbing. Growing as a mountaineer at the “Federacion de Andinismo de Chile (FEACH)” and his mountain club in Osorno: “Amun Newen”, while climbing in the chilean Lakes District and the Maipo valley. Selected from the "Technification Program in Mountaineering and Climbing" of the FEACH during the years 2004 and 2005, in addition to having completed various improvement courses, such as: "Routes of more than four lengths" (Spanish High Mountain School – 2008); "Lifeguard for Hikers" (WFR – Ecomed 2010 / RE-WFR ECSI 2012 / WFR ASHI 2015 / RE-WFR ASHI 2018); "Leave No Trace Monitor" (NDR – NOLS 2011). Guiding professionally since 2009, in 2019 he obtained the certification of ANGM Mountain Guide, having also been a member of the Austrian Alpine Club; he is registered with the National Tourist Service as a guide specialized in mountaineering.; and the current vice-president of the National Association of Mountain Guides - ANGM Chile (www.angm.cl).
JM has made several expeditions and climbing focused travels in northern, central and southern Chile and Argentina, the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Dolomites and the Caucasus Mountains. Additionally, he has led many multi-pitch ice and rock routes throughout the world. Some of his high mountain and alpine climbing sports ascents include the Aiguille du Midi, Dr. Hernán Cruz, the Buracchio – Delgado gutter to C ° Punta Negra, the opening of the northeast ridge to the Puntiagudo Volcano, Cerro Arenas, Ojos del Salado, the south wall of the Marmolada in the Dolomites, the Zmutt ridge to the Matterhorn, Mont Blanc by the way of the four thousand and the attempt in June 2009 – together with Sandra – to Mount Elbrus, in Russia.
He has extensive experience guiding in the south of Chile, having led clients to over one-hundred-fifty summits on the Osorno volcano between 2011 and 2018.
