How to get there:
This peak is located about 40 kilometer from the town Puerto Natales.
One can fly to this town, we decided to drive south in Argentina and
crossed the border at Paso Rio don Guillermo. From there, it is a short
drive to the road intersection near location S51.38475, W72.78865, elevation
near 50 meter. This is the trailhead. There is parking off the road here.
Route description:
Cross the gate (closed) on the opposite side of the road and follow the farm road
towards the mountain. Keep left at a fork and cross through the farm area in order
to access the obvious forest road that climbs the hill ahead. Follow this road
uphill until it ends and continues as a trail. This trail will climb more north and
one should stay at it until reaching about 400 meter of elevation.
At this point, turn left (uphill, west) and ascend the slope while following local
(animal) tracks whenever convenient. The terrain becomes slightly steeper and somewhat
more of a bushwack near the upper end of the vegetation zone. You will then break
out into open land with rocks and some scree. Aim for the left (south) end of the
summit ridge above. The terrain is easier going uphill when keeping left, while the
return hike may find more easy scree slightly more north. See the track posted on
Peakbagger. When reaching the ridge, follow it north to the summit. The best route
will sometimes keep slightly east (right) along the summit ridge.
Overall, this may be the easiest ultra prominent peak in Patagonia.
A track is posted on Peakbagger.
Comments:
After climbing Monte Zeballos, we
drove back out to Hwy. 40, did a car camp, then
continued early morning
south on Hwy. 40 towards the town
of El Califate and onwards to the border crossing.
We camped near the road (and the lake) a few kilometer north of the trailhead.
Starting around 0620, the route was easy to follow and we made the summit after
slightly more than 3 hours at 0930. We had good weather, but fairly strong wind
with gusts to 20 m/s. Good views
all around. This was the southernmost ultra
I would climb. On descent, we noted a condor sitting
on the ground. As we got
closer, it took off and quickly
gained elevation. A very nice moment to watch.
The descent was pretty easy and we reached the car
at 1220, total trip time 6 hours.
