Villa Cerro Castillo, is a town with less than 200 inhabitants, (not to be confused with Villa Cerro Castillo in the Aysén region. This is in southern Patagonia, in the Torres del Paine commune, Última Esperanza Province). The name receives it for the massif that is observed to the West of the town. With its 1900 meters high, it is a classic mountain that was climbed more in the 90's. But then sport activity fell and has been neglected and today it is scaled by some locals not very frequently.
There are no records of anyone climbing it in trail running style and that's why I decided to give it a try.
From Puerto Natales, Drive north towards Villa Cerro Castillo, in the town, turn left over Y-200 road. After over 20 kilometers on that road, you reach the base of the mountain.
In the beginning you go cross country without a path until after crossing a somewhat swampy area (depending on the time of the year), you gain a little more height to reach sectors with some trees where there are rustic trails that seem more for people who go on walks to the skirts of the mountain to do a trekking. Higher up there is no trail again and there are many headlands that appear to be the summit, until after about 3 of those, the actual summit looms.
To crown the effort, the summit is split in two by a rather large crack. I recommend if there is wind especially, not to jump it and better to lose height to get into the crevice and climb to the final summit.
The out & back route gains about 1200m in 8km to the top.
--submitted by Tito Nazar
