Description
From its summit, the views towards its neighbors to the north: Calbuco, Osorno, and Tronador, in addition to the entire length of the first fjord in Patagonia and the beautiful west glacier of the Yates Volcano, together with its approach through the farms of the few inhabitants of the sector, and the typical evergreen forests, crowned in the upper part with one or another larch, make your ascent a complete mountain experience in southern Chile and Patagonia.
Beginning its ascent from sea level, the western route will entail us traversing the full altitude of the mountain. On the first day, we will progress through the fields and the forest, to set up our camp at a thousand meters of altitude. In summer, this will be on trails that will become muddy with the rains (very common in this area), and in winter if we have a lot of snow, the approach will be the hardest part of the ascent. Once the “Mallím” (like a swamp) is reached, the change in the vegetation due to the altitude will be evident, a little later we will have our objective insight. The trail will continue through volcanic scree until reaching the foot of the glacier at 1,900 meters above sea level. From this point, we will continue the ascent rope-up by slopes of about 40º to the pass that joins the north and south summits, and then the final tower that will require some scrambling (or some ice/snow climbing in winter). We will return by the same route!
In winter, the Yates volcano is a good route to do with ski touring. However, depending on how the winter is, we will have to consider adding a third day, so as not to exhaust our strength advancing through deep snow when crossing the forest.
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