FLIGHT

Paragliding & BASE jumping. Flights from summits or walls.

By Rolando Garibotti, 05/04/2022.

- Versión en español

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Both paragliding and BASE jumping are prohibited inside Los Glaciares National Park. Although there are no specific regulations prohibiting the activity, the National Parks Administration argues that "everything that is not specifically permitted is prohibited", because in protected areas the "burden of proof" falls on human activities and not the other way around. In other words, it is necessary to justify why a human activity should be authorized. Since neither paragliding nor BASE jumping cause environmental impact, one can assume that once the issue has been studied, these activities will be authorized.

PARAGLIDING.

Cerro Chaltén (Fitz Roy)

In 1988, brothers Matthias and Michael Pinn climbed the Supercanaleta route of Cerro Chaltén and flew from its summit, taking off to the north, within ten minutes of each other, and landing at Piedra del Fraile. This was the first time a paraglider was flown in the area, and it was an incredibly visionary feat. At that time paragliders were very rudimentary.

It took more than thirty years to fly from the summit again. In early 2020, Pablo Pontoriero succeeded after also climbing the Supercanaleta, which he did with two friends, bivouacking under the summit. Due to the low wind intensity, he had to make two attempts, to the north and south, but finally, after waiting for four hours, he was able to take off to the west. See video on Youtube.

Cerro Torre

In 1988, and just 24 hours after having flown from the summit of Cerro Chaltén, and with the weather still good, the brothers Matthias and Michael Pinn set off to climb the Compressor Route together with Uwe Passler. All three carried paragliders. They reached the summit two days later, but unfortunately bad weather prevented them from flying. They spent two nights on the summit waiting for the weather to improve, but it didn't, so they rappelled. A week later they were dropped off at the summit by a military helicopter, and all three managed to fly. Passler recalls that because of the weight he was carrying - in climbing and video equipment, the landing was quite hard, "I dropped like a stone", and he was so sore from the hit that it took him half an hour to stand up.

In 1991, the South Tyrolean Roman Tschurtschenthaler also got dropped off on the summit by helicopter, and flew off, landing in front of the Visitor Centre.

In early 2020, Fabian Buhl was the first to paraglide from the summit after climbing up, the first "climb & fly". He climbed the Via dei Ragni with two friends, sleeping just below the summit, to fly first thing in the morning. See video on Youtube.

In early 2022, Mario Heller, Pablo Pontoriero and Roger Schaeli also climbed the Via dei Ragni and flew from the summit.

Aguja Saint-Exúpery

In early 2019, Aaron Durogati flew from a terrace 200 meters below the summit. See video on Youtube.

Aguja Guillaumet

In the end of 2019, Fabrizio Maffoni made the first flight from the summit. See video on Youtube.

José Cobo and Claudia Molestina flew off the same spot two months later.

In 2021, Sebastián Quiroga and Lucas Dahir slept on the summit, and flew off early in the morning, landing on the Río Eléctrico bridge and Piedra del Fraile respectively. They used Nivuk Skin 1 sails.

Mojón Rojo

In early 2019, Aaron Durogati flew from below the summit.

Cerro Solo

In August of 2015, in the middle of winter, Daniel Azocar skied to the top, and flew using a Speedriding wing, a Gin Nano 12.5, landing in Laguna Torre. The footage, which can be seen on his Facebook page, is beautiful.

In 2019, Peter Ortner flew from the summit, landing in El Chaltén.

Punta Velluda

In August of 2015, in the middle of winter, Daniel Azocar skied to Laguna de los Tres with two friends, then continued alone to Punta Velluda, from where he flew using a Speedriding wing, a Gin Nano 12.5, landing in Laguna Sucia. The footage, which can be seen on his Instagram account, contouring the steep walls above the lake, is incredible.

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BASE JUMPS

El Mocho

In 2005, Dean Potter jumped down the south face. Dean had climbed extensively in the massif, including solo ascents of Cerro Chaltén and Cerro Torre. He died while wing-suit flying in 2015.

Sean Leary repeated the jump in 2009, which was documented for the film “Patagonia Promise”, that remembers Brazilian climber Roberta Nunes, who visited the area many times and died in a car accident in 2006. It is available on Youtube. Inside his parachute Sean carried Roberta's ashes, and they scattered when it opened. Sean died wing-suit flying in Zion, Utah, in 2014.

In 2015, Libby Sherwood and Chad Milton also jumped from El Mocho. See video on Youtube.

Cerro Torre

In 2005, Dean Potter took his BASE jump kit to the summit, but he couldn't find an exit point he considered safe. Shortly after, he jumped from El Mocho.

In 2008, Valery Rozov climbed the first six pitches of the Compressor route and jumped from there, over the south face, which at that point drops 800 meters. He jumped using a wing-suit and flew close to the south face of El Mocho. See video on Youtube. Days later he climbed to the summit but poor weather conditions prevented him from jumping. Rozov died in 2017 while attempting to BASE jump from Ama Dablam in Nepal.

In 2020, Boris Egorov, Konstantin Jaamurd, and Vladimir Murzaev jumped from the same point from which Rozov had jumped in 2008. Egorov jumped "slick", free-fall, Murzaev jumped with a tracking-suit, while Jaamurd jumped with a wing-suit, staying close to the ridge that leads to El Mocho, passing over to the north side, staying close to the north face, to turn east, and open his parachute over Niponino. See Youtube video.

Aguja de l'S and Mojón Rojo

In 2020, Alban Alozy, Arnaud Bayol and Pierre Sancier, from the Groupe Militaire de Haute Montagne de Chamonix, achieved the first BASE jumps from Mojón Rojo and Aguja de l'S, always jumping in tracking-suits. In both cases they jumped the west faces, flying 1300 meters to land on the Torre glacier. The Aguja de l'S exit is just above the "Besos to Pesos" route, and is comfortable. The Mojón Rojo exit is at the end of the horizontal ridge that extends to the west, about 100m below the summit, and is small, and sloping. See Youtube video of the jump from Aguja de l'S, and from Mojón Rojo.

These jumps were part of the film production of the movie "Les Ailes de Patagonie", written by Sylvan Tesson. The film celebrates the contributions of Henri Guillaumet, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Jean Mermoz, pilots of the French Aéropostale, who traveled the world establishing the first postal air routes, and in whose honor three towers in the area have been named. The film also explains the care that goes into making a safe BASE jump: checking the landing zone, clearance, verticality, etc. The same three tried to fly from Aguja Poincenot, but strong wind forced them to rappel.

In early 2021, Boris Egorov and Lucas Moraes repeated the BASE jump from the GMHM exit. Egorov jumped "slick", free-fall, while Moraes jumped with a wing-suit. Video and photos of this jump in Lucas's Instagram account.

Aguja Guillaumet

In early 2021, shortly after his Mojón Rojo jump, Boris Egorov made the first BASE jump from Guillaumet, jumping "slick", free-fall, from the end of the slab that extends west from the summit block. He describes the exit as uncomfortable, without a terrace. For that reason, when he jumped he fell spinning, and had to open his parachute rather quickly. He landed at Piedra Negra, where because he didn't read the wind right, he had a very hard landing. Video of this jump in Boris' Facebook page.

Note: Apart from the paragliding flights and BASE jumps of summits or walls mentioned in this page, some long, impressive paraglider flights have been done. As an example, at the beginning of 2022, Manuel Canale (@parapenteelbolson) took off from Loma del Diablo, flew south, over Cerro Eléctrico, west over Paso Cuadrado, Loma Blanca, south to Cerro Pollone and back, returning east, then south parallel to the west faces of Guillaumet, Mermoz, Cerro Chaltén, over the Filo del Hombre Sentado, passing Desmochada, Poincenot, Saint-Exúpery, Techado Negro, over Loma de las Pizarras, returning north, over Cerro Polo to Cordón del Bosque, to return south and land near La Platea. See map in sidebar, and skyride path.