Snow-capped volcanoes, mountain lakes, rapid rivers and thick native forest are some of the features of the areas in and around Pucón and Curarrehue in southern Chile’s Araucania region. Its also a region that even today hosts a Mapuche indigenous culture which has a deep connection with the Earth. Now, this area is targeted en masse by small-scale hydroelectric dam projects. Just in these two municipalities alone some 59 permits have been granted for the construction of dams.

 

 

With a passion for high summits, the remote, and the unexplored, Chilean mountaineer Eugenio “Kiko”  Guzman, has led or taken part in numerous expeditions and climbs around the world, including Mt. Everest, Mt. McKinley (Alaska), Carstensz Pyramid (Indonesia), and Mt. Lhotse. In 2002, he participated in the first unsupported crossing of the Ellsworth Mountains Range in Antarctica. The business manager of Instituto Vertical in Santiago Chile, Kiko also has vast experience in Patagonia, and counts among his top mountaineering feats his participation in the first ascent in winter of Monte San Valentin, the highest summit in Patagonia.  Patagon Journal recently interviewed Kiko about his experience at San Valentin for our most recent issue. Excerpts: