A Historic Ascent: Three locals reach the top of Cerro Paine Grande, Torres del Paine

Many of our porters are also passionate climbers. When their work schedules and Patagonia’s unpredictable weather allow, they spend their free time exploring the granite peaks and rock walls surrounding Torres del Paine National Park. 

Vicente Urzúa, born and raised in Puerto Natales in 2000, is one of them. A mountaineer, guide, and porter in Torres del Paine, Vicente supports the logistics of the W Trek Brush Variant, the Paine O Circuit, and our W Trek programs throughout the season. 

He has climbed in Torres del Paine, the Cordillera Blanca of Peru, and other massifs across Patagonia. 

On May 31, 2026, he was part of the sixth expedition in history to reach the summit of Paine Grande. This event is special for various reasons and caused a lot of attention, especially in local media. 

Photo: the summit of Cerro Paine Grande 

Paine Grande, one of the most difficult mountains to reach 

Cerro Paine Grande is difficult not because it is exceptionally high its summit is about 3,050 m, but because it combines serious alpine terrain, complex access, volatile weather conditions, and a very high level of commitment. There is no straightforward hiking route to the summit.

Reaching it involves glacier travel, steep snow and ice, exposed ridges, and technical climbing rather than ordinary trekking. Recent summit reports describe multiple near-vertical sections between 60° and 90°, often covered in unstable ice. 

Mount Paine Grande: Attempts and Successful Ascents

Mount Paine Grande has been successfully climbed five times: 1957, 2000, 2011, 2016, and 2018. The first ascent of the main summit was completed on 27 December 1957 by Italians Jean Bich, Leonardo Carrel, Toni Gobbi, Camillo Pelissier and Pierino Pession. After establishing a high camp at around 2,300 meters and making two attempts, they reached the top.

Several attempts were made over the next decades, but very few succeeded in reaching the summit. One successful attempt was made in April 2024 by Victor Zavala, our Data Analyst, who barely reached the summit due to extreme weather. Unfortunately, for the same reason, he wasn't able to take a photo and didn't carry the inReach with GPS, which stayed with his climbing partner further down, who didn't make it to the top. 

As no evidence was provided, the climb hasn´t been recognized by all media, and this is why Vicente's attempt has been said to be the number six, not the number seven, successful climb.  

For Vicente and his climbing partners to reach the top for the 6th time, officially, is a huge achievement. On top of that, all 3 guys are locals, born in Puerto Natales, which is why this climb felt like something special to the local community!

Vicente is sharing his journey of how he started rock climbing and how it culminated in the climb to the top of the impressive Paine Grande, the tallest mountain in the Torres del Paine National Park. 

Photo: the rope team, from the left: Maximiliano, Vicente, and Angel 

How it all started: From Cerro Dorotea to the walls and peaks of the Paine Massif in Torres Del Paine 

“I started climbing when I was 15. I had tried climbing a few times when I was younger, but I did not pursue it afterward. The first time I really got to climb was when a friend invited me to Cerro Dorotea, a small mountain of 905m close to Puerto Natales. We climbed some sandstone boulders there, and that is when I became excited about it. 

I started training at the Boulder gym, at the memorable Chuma Boulder, which was around at the time. Then I began getting my own gear, and my passion for rock climbing grew. At first, I was mainly focused on sport climbing, but in 2018 I climbed Almirante Nieto (a mountain close to EcoCamp Patagonia) after an invitation from my friend Eduardo Canales at Red Point Hostel. 

That was when I decided to get more into the mountains. Later, I also did my first multi-pitch climbing course with my friend Johan and Tola Señoret (Chilean rock climber, also known for opening various new rock climbing routes). This course encouraged us to raise our level on rock and try more challenging routes.

I began climbing mountains near Puerto Natales, such as Mount Tenerife and others in the area. From then on, I focused more on alpine climbing and on making the most of the great granite walls in Paine. 

I think my first real experience climbing granite was on Cerro Catedral, where we made the first Chilean ascent.”

Photo: Juan, friend of Vicente, together they were the first Chileans to climb the peak Cerro Catedral, Torres del Paine.  

This is Vicente Urzúa's story, day by day, reaching the summit of Paine Grande together with his rope team:

The first attempt reaching the summit of Paine Grande

The idea of climbing Cerro Paine Grande did not begin in 2026. Vicente had carried the goal with him for years, but one previous attempt brought him painfully close and made the summit even harder to forget.

A year and a half earlier, together with his friends Felipe Aguilera and Franco Rojas, both workers in Torres del Paine National Park, he had reached a point just 15 meters below the summit. Only 15 meters!

What stood between them and the top was a fragile snow mushroom: a large, wind-sculpted formation of accumulated snow that builds outward around a ridge or summit, often creating unstable, overhanging sections. The poorly consolidated snow made the final meters extremely technical and required ice axes with flukes, a shovel, and enough snow stakes to secure their progress. 

They did not have the necessary equipment.

By then, the physical effort had also taken its toll. Severely dehydrated and without the right tools to safely overcome the final obstacle, they made the difficult decision to turn back.

"The desire to return was always there," says Vicente.

The Rope Team from Puerto Natales 

This time, Vicente would attempt Paine Grande with a different rope team. In mountaineering, a rope team is a small group of climbers connected by a single rope. They move together across exposed or technical terrain, helping protect one another and making both the ascent and descent safer.

Vicente and Ángel have known each other since childhood. They attended the same school in Puerto Natales and have been climbing together for years. Vicente sees in Ángel a particular talent for ice climbing: he moves with confidence and ease across terrain where others might hesitate.

Maximiliano joined the team two years ago. The previous year, he and Vicente had already shared several expeditions in Peru's Cordillera Blanca, including climbs on La Esfinge and Urus Oeste, where they opened a route together.

There was also something special about this team: all three climbers were locals from Puerto Natales, shaped by the same Patagonian landscape they were now preparing to climb.

Photo: on the left, Paine Grande with its three main peaks, the right one being the highest point of the park. 

The preparation for the big climb

This final attempt was carefully planned long before the team set foot on the mountain. By mid-May 2026, Vicente, Ángel, and Maximiliano were already organizing the logistics and preparing for the ascent.

A week before the main push, Vicente and Ángel climbed to Cumbre Bariloche, one of Paine Grande's lower summits, to cache part of their equipment on the plateau. Leaving gear in advance would help reduce the weight they needed to carry during the final attempt.

Timing was critical. Because of the high freezing level, they needed to reach the plateau in the early morning and descend before rising temperatures made conditions more dangerous. The climb also gave them an opportunity to study the route, particularly a mixed pitch combining rock and ice. What they could not yet know was how dramatically this section would change after the heavy snowfall that arrived before their main attempt.

In the end, everything depended on the weather. May 31 emerged as the only ideal window, and from the beginning, that was the date they had been waiting for.

Day 1: The easiest day of them all

The journey began at Sector Carretas, inside Torres del Paine National Park. From here, the team walked 11 km over flat terrain to the Refugio Paine Grande campsite, with packs loaded for a 6-day expedition. 

Their friend Agustín accompanied them to the refuge, carrying part of the first day's food so they could eat well before what was coming.

Day 1 was the easiest of the six.

Photo: Refugio Paine Grande, part of the W trek, Torres del Paine National Park

Day 2: The snowfall

The forecast had predicted a brief snowfall that night. In reality, the mountain received slightly more snow than expected. With little else to do but wait, the team stayed at camp, ate well, and went to bed early. 

The goal was simple: rest as much as possible and begin the next day's climb to the plateau with maximum energy.

Day 3: The ascent to high camp

The team set off at midday, but the climb to the plateau was difficult from the very beginning. Deep, accumulated snow slowed every step. Much of the ascent involved breaking trail: taking turns at the front to open a path through knee-deep snow for the climbers behind. 

The effort was relentless, and they arrived at each section soaked.

The final mixed climbing pitches, normally technical but manageable, had been transformed by the recent snowfall. Rock and ice were buried beneath fresh snow, making the terrain far more demanding than they had expected.

At 2,260 meters, the team finally established their high camp. Before they could pitch the tent, they had to shovel away a large amount of snow and prepare a stable platform. But in one crucial respect, luck was on their side: there was no wind. In Patagonia, that can change everything.

That evening, the sky cleared earlier than forecast. At around 9 pm, the clouds finally opened, revealing their objective in full view: the main summit of Paine Grande.

Photo: High camp at the feet of the Paine Grande summit 

Day 4: Reaching the summit

It was a day of complete focus and intense emotion. Everything seemed to flow. The three climbers moved as a single unit, each stepping forward with determination when the moment demanded it. 

Their progress was faster than expected: from high camp to the summit and back, the entire push took 17 hours, tent to tent.

The technical section begins at the amphitheater, reached through a massive 700-meter couloir. In mountaineering, a couloir is a narrow, steep gully or chute cutting through a mountain, often used as a natural line of ascent or descent. The final 100 meters were the most demanding, combining ice, snow, and rock in mixed climbing of up to M3 difficulty. Beyond this point, the route continued toward the final summit pitches.

The last two pitches - sections of a climb between one belay point and the next - rose for 60 meters on almost vertical terrain. Then came the obstacle Vicente remembered all too well from his previous attempt: the snow tunnel.

A poorly consolidated snow mushroom blocked the final pitch, forming the last major challenge before the summit. This time, they had come prepared. Equipped with a shovel and ice axes fitted with flukes, they carefully worked through the unstable snow, opening the tunnel and advancing meter by meter.

Leadership was shared throughout the climb. Ángel led four pitches, Vicente two, and Maximiliano one. They rotated constantly: while one climber led, the others belayed, and whoever had just completed a demanding pitch could recover as the next person took the lead.

This is why a good rope team is important, and even more, planning and leading the plan. 

Photo: Ascending Paine Grande

The summit: 15 minutes of awe and calm

From the highest point in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile, they looked out over the vast Paine Massif. The view stretched over many of the park's most iconic landmarks and peaks: La Fortaleza, Mount Almirante Nieto, the famous Las Torres, Grey Glacier, Mount Balmaceda, Los Cuernos del Paine, Valle Olguín, and the snow-covered summits surrounding the French Valley. Beyond them, the immense Southern Patagonian Ice Field extended southward.

As they reached the summit, the sun was setting on the horizon. For Vicente, Ángel, and Maximiliano, the moment was unlike anything they had experienced before: unique, emotional, and impossible to forget.

They spent only 15 minutes on the summit. The celebration had to be brief. Almost from the moment they reached the top, their attention shifted to the descent and the need to make progress before losing the remaining light.

The choice of May 31 had not been a coincidence. From the beginning, the team had focused on that date because the weather forecast showed it as the ideal window. Only afterward did they fully understand the significance of the timing: that same day, their city, Puerto Natales, was celebrating its 115th anniversary.

The city that had raised all three climbers received an extraordinary tribute from the highest point of the Paine Massif.

Day 5: The most difficult part had yet to come, the descent

The descent proved even harder than the climb.

As they made their way down from the plateau, the team watched slabs of snow fracture and break away across the terraces. Overnight winds had created wind slabs: dense, compact layers of snow formed when wind transports and deposits snow onto a slope. These slabs can sit poorly bonded to the snow beneath them, making the snowpack dangerously unstable.

At the top of the 700-meter couloir, Ángel made a tactical decision. He rappelled first, descending on the rope, and once he reached the final terrace, he deliberately released a layer of unstable powder snow.

The resulting avalanche swept through the entire length of the couloir, carrying the loose snow almost 700 meters downhill and clearing the most unstable accumulation from their line of descent.

The team then descended one at a time. Roughly every 100 meters, each climber searched for a protected position, often sheltering behind a rock, and waited for the next teammate to arrive before continuing. Halfway down the couloir, the snow conditions finally began to improve.

Photo: Evidence of an avalanche in a couloir to the right of the one they descended. Ángel in the right photo.

At around 1,500 meters, they reached the amphitheater and allowed themselves their first truly calm pause of the day. They stopped to rest and share mate, the traditional herbal infusion deeply rooted in everyday life across Patagonia.

But the mountain was not finished with them yet.

The moraine, a section of loose rock and debris left behind by glacial movement, had been relatively easy to cross on the ascent. Now, it was coated in verglas: an extremely thin, transparent layer of ice that forms when moisture freezes directly onto rock. Almost invisible, verglas can make apparently solid terrain unexpectedly slippery and treacherous.

Every step demanded complete concentration until they finally reached the forest, at around 600 meters above sea level.

Only then did the mountain seem to let them go.

Photo: views from above. In the first photo, you can see the three granite towers. 

Day 6: The return to Puerto Natales

From Paine Grande, it was the same 11 km back to the starting point, where it all started 6 days back. They were all tired, but they knew the hardest part was behind them. Agustín, their friend who helped them on day 1, was waiting with his vehicle. 

From there, they went straight to the Torres del Paine National Park administration to officially register the ascent with the park rangers. It was over; the mission was completed successfully as they all were back safe and sound after their expedition. 

Photo: climbing the wall of Paine Grande 

Final thoughts: The meaning of the expedition

In the end, reaching the summit is only part of the story. Coming home safely, without incident, is what truly matters.

“Reaching the summit and returning safely is the most important thing, because Paine Grande is an incredibly difficult and reluctant mountain. I feel that, in a way, the mountain has to choose you - to allow you to reach its summit and come back safely,” says Vicente.

Paine Grande is more than a technically demanding climb. It tests physical preparation, mental strength, logistics, the ability to read changing weather conditions, risk management, and trust among teammates, all at once, over several days, in one of the most unpredictable mountain environments in Patagonia.

The fact that Vicente, Ángel, and Maximiliano are all from Puerto Natales gives the ascent an even deeper meaning. This was not only a personal achievement. It was also a tribute to the city and community that shaped them, at the foot of the mountains that inspired their lives as climbers.

Above all, Vicente hopes the expedition can leave a message for others:

“Fight for your dreams. Everything is possible, but you have to work hard for them. No matter how distant they may seem, if you keep putting in the effort, sooner or later your moment will come. And when it does, the happiness and joy are immense, especially when you know how much work and determination it took to get there.”

Congratulations to Vicente, Ángel, and Maximiliano on completing an extraordinary challenge, and on safely returning from the highest summit of the Paine Massif.

What is a porter and Porter Service explained 

Behind every multi-day trek is a dedicated team working to make the experience smoother and more comfortable for our guests. At EcoCamp, porters are an essential part of that team. While hikers move along the trail carrying their personal daypacks, our porters transport key overnight equipment between campsites.

We include a porter service on all our trekking programs, including the 5-Day W Trek, 7-Day W Trek, 7-Day W Trek + Brush Variant, and our most demanding trekking program, the 9-Day Paine O Circuit.

For each guest, the porter service covers up to 5 kg of equipment, including a sleeping bag, sleeping bag liner, dry bag, and additional food. This allows hikers to move more comfortably along the trail while ensuring their essential overnight gear is waiting for them at the next campsite.

We have also created a video explaining how our porter service works, including what we recommend you carry in your daypack and which items should be packed in the dry bag carried by the porter team.

Once the guests hand over their equipment and begin hiking, the porters carefully organize and distribute the loads between the team to ensure the weight is balanced as evenly as possible. Any additional weight is registered and charged separately.

Although porters usually leave after the trekking group, they often move quickly along the trails and reach camp before the hikers. By the time guests arrive, their gear is already waiting for them, and the campsite is prepared, allowing them to change into dry clothes, settle in, or enjoy a hot shower after a long day of trekking.

And the guest equipment is only part of what they carry. Each porter must also transport their own personal gear and the equipment they need for several days in the mountains. Their backpacks can weigh around 35 kg and hold nearly 100 liters.

Photo: our porters, ready to start day 1 of a multi-day hike program. Vicente is the second one from the left.

Moving with this amount of weight across rugged Patagonian terrain, day after day and throughout a seven-month trekking season, demands extraordinary strength, endurance, and physical preparation. Porters understand that taking care of their bodies is essential

to performing this work safely and consistently.

Perhaps that is also why many porters are naturally drawn to life outdoors. Hiking, trekking, and climbing mountains are often more than a job - they are part of who they are.

Vicente is a perfect example.