SAMAYA x MÉLISSA LE NEVÉ
DIFFICULT MULTI-PITCH CLIMBS AND FIRST SUMMITS IN PATAGONIA
For 3 months, professional climber Mélissa Le Nevé, a fan of difficult multi-pitch routes, traveled to South America with the goal of climbing massive walls hundreds of meters high. Immersed in the heart of local communities, Mélissa gave further reach to her adventure, touched by the issues facing the territory.
“The first part of this three-month trip took place in Cochamó, in Chilean Patagonia, an absolutely heavenly region near Puerto Montt in Chile. The first time I went to Chile, I met the Chilean community who told me about this place. European and North American climber friends had described it to me as the second Yosemite. I became increasingly keen to go there, especially since I had started trad climbing.
I quickly got in touch with the local community and particularly with Diego Diaz, a local activist and key figure in Cochamó, working for the preservation of this endangered place.
Hacienda Puchegüín, the “Yosemite of South America,” known for its granite walls and preserved nature, is a private property of over 130,000 hectares and is currently for sale. This land is rich in resources and forms an exceptional water reserve, making it the lungs of southern South America. Unlike the vast protected areas that surround it, Puchegüín lacks environmental protection, exposing its ecosystems and communities to the threats of non-compliance and lack of conservation in this environment. To fight against a purchase of the area that would jeopardize the fate of the communities residing there, an alliance led by the local NGO Puelo Patagonia was formed, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, the Freyja Foundation, and the Wyss Foundation. The Patagonia Foundation, a sponsor of Diego, is also involved to give it an international scope.
When Diego and I met, we were very excited about the idea of doing a difficult multi-pitch climb together, rated 8b and rising 800 meters high. Once we arrived, we realized that all the pitons and bolts were rusted. In the 2000s, many alpinists and climbers going to El Chaltén discovered this place and were captivated by the number of 900-meter-high faces. They began to progressively bolt the routes, which is very nice and honorable, but the problem is that they were there in the dry season and didn’t realize that it rains ten months out of twelve. The walls turn into huge 900-meter waterfalls and the equipment fixed to them rusts, leaving these *basuras*, literal garbage, right in the middle of the routes on the cliffs.
Originally there to climb beautiful routes, I finally found myself trying to act as an international sounding board for these local issues.
After leaving Cochamó, I went to Bariloche in Argentina with a local friend nicknamed ‘La Hormiga’ (The Ant), one of the first women to have pushed alpinism in Argentina. She is an incredible and impressive tiny person, quite well-known in South America for having climbed Fitz Roy and other superb routes in El Chaltén ten years ago.
The climbing was great there; it’s an appetizer for what you can find in El Chaltén. It was really nice to approach the mountains in this way, because I don't have much experience in alpinism and it allowed me to learn little by little. I reached my first summits in El Chaltén, even though the weather was a bit rough that season. There were very few good windows and we spent about a month and a half waiting in the village without any favorable conditions. There was finally a window allowing us to reach a small summit.
Next, I went flying with my paraglider. Since the legendary takeoffs from the summits, notably Fabian Buhl’s at Cerro Torre in 2020, the Argentine community has taken it up and we see more and more paragliders decorating the Patagonian sky. I hiked for 3.5 hours to reach my takeoff point. Usually, to do any activity in the mountains in Patagonia, you have to hike for 6 hours. For my paragliding flight, I felt like I had barely started and I was already there! I took off at the foot of the Aiguille Poincenot, flying over the entire Fitz Roy range, crossing the glacier through the air. I spent two incredible hours flying in this immense glacier and playing with the condors. It must be one of the most beautiful flights of my life.”
