If one day you visit Puerto Natales city, in the Magallanes region and, at the same time, you observe with curious eyes its surroundings, besides the iconic Balmaceda mount, you’ll be able to sight a hill with a pronounced conic formation, very similar to a volcano. That’s the Tenerife hill, which has a height of 1650 m above sea level, and it’s located north of the Prat Mountain range, divided by the valley of the Ventisquero river to the south. The hill’s name comes from the first family that inhabited its foothill during the colonization of the Última Esperanza province which came from the Spanish island of Tenerife.
The Prat Mountain range is a mountain chain with unrivaled valleys, summits, and glaciers, where it’s possible to practice a series of open-air sports. Therefore, said mountain range and its surroundings have become an attractive place fully accessible to those who find delight and enjoyment in the Patagonian landscapes
The Tenerife hill is located 50 km northeast of Puerto Natales, bordering to the east with Porteño Lake. From its summit, the inhospitable Patagonia and part of the southern ice field can be seen to the west, but the most noticeable by far is the Tenerife glacier a small extension compared to other glaciers in the Magallanes region, but of significant magnitude to progress in its study, contemplation, and dynamism.
Just like that, together with my rope teammate Álvaro Rivera, we decided to explore this glacial ecosystem in a three-day field trip, with enough equipment for glacier progression and subsequent ice climbing, starting on March 31, 2021
Together with my companion, we entered from the northeastern slope of the Tenerife hill, through a delimited path by the Senderos de Chile project, at one side of the Rincón bridge on route Y-290. The place is marked by its dense vegetation of Magellanic forests (Nothofagus), leña dura (Maytenus magellanica), calafate (Berberis microphylla), Escallonia (Escallonia rubra), and Notro (Embothrium coccineum), among the most predominant species.
For about 3 hours, we gained elevation along the terraces of one of the valleys that originated from the mountain chain to which we were heading, until arriving at the camping zone, where small cirque glaciers (glaciers with semicircular upper parts) could be seen. Lenga, coigüe and ñirre trees, a steeper rocky terrain, vegetation dominated by the Andean desert, and a great view of the Paine massif to the northeast of our location gave way to the mountains.
The next day, with the first hours of daylight and a wide window of nice weather, without wind and a clear sky, we departed heading to the Tenerife glacier, getting closer through the north-eastern slope of the homonymous hill, traversing its periglacial zone.
We carefully went down the lateral hillock of stones and mud that are dragged by the glacier, moraine in more technical terms, due to how slippery the fleecy rock was until arriving at the lower part of the glacier, where we put on crampons to start the progression.
Once in the glacier, and before really starting the progression to its upper part, we decided to rope our climbing equipment to ourselves, since Álvaro knew about a u-shaped closed valley which was formed at the upper part of the glacier where snow accumulates (accumulation area) that he had climbed before. We wanted to check its state after the recent summer to see if it was possible to climb it to the summit of the mountain that houses it.
The lower part, where the glacier loses part of its mass due to evaporation and fusion, also called the ablation zone, was quite deteriorated, and weak, with particulate matter over the ice in the lateral zones, and with notorious signs of melting, a consequence of a recent hot summer season.
We continued our progress through the glacier up the slope in search of this large u-shaped closed valley, which we began to size up as we moved forward and gained altitude through the middle of the glacier.
Further up, we were able to see clear signs of thinning in its western slope.
We could also appreciate a series of erratic rocks scattered in the sector, very close to visible zones of detachment in its eastern slope.
After identifying and entering its accumulation zone, with the large u-shaped closed valley at 100 m, we continued bordering the great ice slope to get to it. We noticed a big crack across the full width of the glacier, the bergschrund, which we had to go across very carefully, securing ourselves with ice axes.
Already at the feet of the large u-shaped closed valley, evaluating the zone and ice conditions, we decided to climb and get out of the glacier from the mount’s summit that houses it.
There were 2 stretches of 60 meters each, which means the u-shaped closed valley was approximately 120 meters high. The ice was quite weak and cracked. It wasn’t a hard climb, but with our backpacks and being a climb with a positive angle (less than 90º of inclination), it was somewhat uneasy to progress.
Despite the above, and the fact that we climbed said slope during the afternoon, we managed to put screws in place and hold meetings without a problem and we were able to enjoy the scenery and the activity itself.
Upon reaching the top, Paine surprised us once more with a spectacular view. During sunset with a clear sky, we were delighted with the panoramic view of the Paine massif, the southern ice field and its glaciers, the Balmaceda Mount, and the Chacabuco Mountain range. That’s the moment when your body relaxes and completely enjoys the present in the middle of the immensity of Patagonia.
The fact that the Tenerife glacier is a smaller glacier in comparison to the other giants of Patagonia and has temperate characteristics means that it’s in clear danger of disappearing. However, it’s a privilege to be able to keep watching these landscapes in the middle of a complex environmental scenario.
Even though on this occasion we took advantage of this ice formation for sport and recreation purposes, we always had in mind the value of the Tenerife glacier in relation to its ecosystem and as an integral part of a quite frail balance to all forms of life that exist in this environment. This being a relatively accessible glacier to those who like this sport, with a friendly approach within the margins, we take this opportunity to call for respect for the fragility of the present ecosystem and to carry out this beautiful activity with complete respect and humility before nature.
Cover picture:
Tenerife Glacier, Magallanes and Antártica Chilena regions. Link location and data sheet LatitudGlaciar
