First Ski Descent of 1,000-metre Face in Andes
Conditions were nearly perfect for two skiers to find good turns on the south face of Cerro Lomo Larga
Free-style skiers and climbers Raimundo De Andraca and Antonio Eguiguren recently made the first ski descent in the Chilean Andes of the south face of Cerro Lomo Larga (5,400 m). The two have a track record of bold and steep first descents throughout Patagonia, including a monster line on Monte San Valentin.
Cerro Lomo Larga had been skied in the past, via the north face by Drew Tabke and Griffin Post in 2016. About the descent, Tabke said, “Skiing off the summit we found wind-compacted powder, unexpectedly superb snow for such height. We linked turns down the very steep, rolling slope. Each turn we trended slightly left, keeping us on the steeps instead of returning to the middle of the gully below.”
Eguiguren and De Andraca took 12 hours to summit the mountain, which included a six-hour approach and six-hour ascent. And in totaly then spent around 17 hours going up and returning to base camp in Marmolejos Valley.
In 2019, De Andraca made the first Chilean descent of the north face of the impressive Aiguille du Midi in Chamonix, one of the most important big ski descent landmarks outside of Chile.
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