Cerro Boris, Cholila, Argentina (December 2024)
We passed Cholila and headed south/west towards Lago Cholila. Bordered by the purple and pink lupinos in full bloom, we spent a good amount of time on the dusty dirt road, approaching the right side of the lake, passing all the properties and peoples vacation homes.
The place is beautiful and even more wild than the rest of Patagonia.
It was my first time on this side of the mountain, and I could see why people loved it and decided to invest in these properties even though far away from any civilization.
The road continued by the lake, but not entirely on dirt. We had to do 4 lake crossings where the road would simple stir away from the shore into water. This isn’t possible all year long as the water gets to high sometimes.
Even for our little Montero, this height was the absolute limit.
Driving a little further away from the shore the road takes you through multiple private properties, with cattle, gauchos on horses and wild horses. Getting steeper and steeper until dropping back down and crossing 4 rivers. Percy, .. and finally Villegas.
Rio Villegas was our way up.
Now we were following the river. It took us about 2 hours up a dirty, slow, and very dusty road. There is nothing there, only private properties with private people, who aren’t the happiest seeing strangers driver on their roads and use their trails. Regardless, a lovely couple let us park at the end of the road close to their house. They showed us where to cross the river, and start the horse trail that will take us in our general direction. They invited us over for mate and we talked for some time, until we had to start hiking and leave the world of comfort and peace behind.
After crossing the river we slowly started to make our way up the mountain. It took us almost 9 hours to cover 8 km of trail that wasn’t a trail. There were traces of horse trails here and there but it was mostly Ñires and caña colighue that we were slowly pushing ourselves through. Every once in a while my uncle would say: “Alenka, I think we really did get lost” until he stopped saying that because we both realized we never even had a right trail (because a trail doesn’t exist). Tired from all the heat and probably dehydrated, we finally made it to the point where our altitude aligned with a small lagune we planned to be our base camp. From there it was a breezy 1 hour walk through “Bosce magico” like Fernando told us, the magic forest, and we were there. Cooking dinner and taking a quick shower in the lagune felt like a 5 star hotel. From the moment my head hit the pillow, I don’t remember anything until the alarm went off.
Day 2
Getting out of the tent was tough, all my muscles were stiff and my mind was exhausted. Knowing that the biggest part is still in front of us, so we did what we had to do. Packed our bags with rope, harnesses, couple friends and nuts and some prusik and pins just in case. We didn’t know what would wait for us on top so we had to be prepared. We also took ice axes and crampons with us since we were planning to cross glacier terrain. And hopefully cover a lot of terrain with snow. Changing our footwear from comfortable approach shoes to alpine boots is never fun. But we had to be ready for the worst.
Our path was nonexistent. We were figuring out our way, the best, the easiest, the most direct way up the mountain! The idea is exciting and very explorational but the reality is that you spend a lot of your time just. Trying. To. Figure. It. Out. The alarm that I successfully slept through was set for 6. Exhausted from the night before and the damp cold of the outside wasn’t at all inviting.
Sun was coming out as we made it to the base of the west facing couloir facing the famous Cerro Plataforma. Out of the woods and all the bushwhacking, it was quite refreshing to get to the alpine. Once we started climbing up the couloir, our pace picked up and we were making good time. The path seemed obvious and the snow was frozen enough to make things easier for us. Followed by some light scrambling between alpine granite and solid snow, we were stoked to be finally making good progress. By 11 am we were on the shoulder of what we thought was Cerro Anexo, but turned out to be a new mountain. Without a name, without any previous ascends.
Given the fact we spend almost two days getting there and we only had a 4 day weather window, that was the point where we realized we aren’t making it to Tres Picos this time but we were given an opportunity to summit a new mountain. We spent the next 7 hours following a series of tries from false summits to runouts, to large sections of moving rocks and all of those things slowed us down significantly.
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At 5pm, on December 14th 2024, we summited Cerro Boris.
2376m
-42.37381, -71.77104
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Stoked to be top we congratulated each other and took some pictures. Romanticizing the view and laughing at the fact that we are still a day or two away from Tres Picos. Our naive positive thinking got us here, and the will to keep going made us survive it with a smile. We didn’t want to waste too much time, because we knew we still have a long way down to the base camp.
Our descent was treacherous. Sliding rocks, dusty morenas, every single step had to be calculated, and a little mistake could potentially result in some seriously bad consequences. A rescue here isn’t possible. It’s not very likely that someone will start hiking toward us and help. There are no helicopters and no SAR structures. When you go on an adventure into the hidden holes of Patagonia, you need to understand one thing: You are completely alone.
”La vida de pionero” my uncle kept saying. The energy was good and mutually respected partnership on the mountain with him made the whole experience a lot better. Since both of us like to talk, there wasn’t any shortage of topics we didn’t cover, debating this and that over and over again.
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We crashed hard in the tent, after cooking some not so delicious polenta with premade tomatoe sauce and tuna, but in the moment it felt like the fanciest meal.
One thing I love about the mountains is that the most basic things like a cup of tea or a piece of chocolate are the ones you appreciate the most. Seeing the sun set, or rise in the morning gives you energy no caffeinated drink is able to give you.
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Diving deeper into my family’s history
This trip was a great opportunity for me to learn more about my granpa Boris, they way he lived his life and how his approach to the mountains was. He stopped with alpinism at the age of 30, and it wasn’t something he wanted to pass down to his kids. My mom found her passion for climbing on her own, after moving to Slovenia and joining the alpine school.
I’m discovering my self through these missions, more than I know sometimes. Reconnecting with my family’s history is a big part of spending time in Patagonia. It is something very special and I’m grateful for the inspiration I have been given from my parents and grandparents.
