Quebrada Chorrillos: Cerro 34 Leguas and Exploration

Argentina, Andes
Author: Marcelo Scanu. Climb Year: 2018. Publication Year: 2018.

Glauco Muratti has been exploring the mountains of Mendoza Province, near Aconcagua, for years. In February 2018, he joined another Argentine, Lisandro Arelovich, and headed to the remote Quebrada Chorrillos, a valley with many obstacles that has left it little explored.

On February 7 they departed from the town of Punta de Vacas (2,400m), southeast of Acon- cagua, trekking south along the Tupungato River and then west up Chorrillos Creek, crossing the Paso de los Guanacos (4,200m, with some difficult steps) and the Paso Modesto (4,200m) and then descending to the south branch of the Chorrillos, a route that was certainly previously untrodden.

On the fifth day of their expedition the pair summited a virgin 5,150m peak (33o06 ́28.72”S, 69o55 ́02.24”W) by its north ridge with some delicate steps and rotten rock. They named it Cerro 34 Leguas because of the long journey to reach it. On the way back they returned to Paso Modesto, then traversed directly to Paso de los Guanacos, ascending Cerro Horqueta (4,565m) by its virgin south face, with some grade III rotten rock. (This peak was first climbed from the northwest in 2016; see AAJ 2017.) They descended to the Valle de las Huellitas and then crossed over the Cordón de Clonquis to reach Quebrada Potrero Escondido before exiting to Punta de Vacas. The round-trip journey took eight hard days.

– Marcelo Scanu, Argentina



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