Mountaineering, Death and Climate Risk in the Patagonian Andes – State of the Planet

Mountaineers contend with the prospect of death during their climbing excursions in the Patagonian Andes, and have created a sporting culture attuned to the risks they face. Climate change, however, has begun to transform the conditions that mountaineers confront, raising questions about adaptation amidst efforts to limit injuries and fatalities.

During the 19th century, mountaineering emerged as a competitive sport in Europe, but faced significant social criticisms related to its risk-taking behavior. Climbers justified their sport by highlighting its contributions to national glory, imperial competition and the advancement of scientific knowledge in geology, physiology and glaciology. Rather than accepting the argument that the sport needlessly wasted human lives, mountaineers inverted this critique by embracing the positive aspects of risking death. A willingness to risk death in the mountains potentially brought distinction for individuals, teams and countries.

Patagonian mountaineering originated in the early twentieth century and was referred to as “andinismo.” The town of Bariloche in northern Patagonia was a center for Andean mountaineering culture, which revolved around exploration, establishment of routes and competition for first ascents. By the 1950s, southern Patagonia became an international destination. In addition to the Paine Massif in Chile, the Chaltén Massif—with its granite walls, alpine terrains, and proximity to the Southern Patagonian Ice Field—became a proving ground for mountaineering elites in Argentina. The Patagonian Andes witnessed growing numbers of deaths as the region was integrated into the competitive hierarchies of global mountaineering. Local andinismo clubs published records of these expeditions and tributes to the fallen. 

The lethality of mountaineering raises questions about cognitive biases associated with risk perception. Katherine Fox-Glassman, a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Columbia University, remarked that these include “optimism bias,” in which we “overemphasize the chances of personally experiencing a rare good outcome,” and what is known as “affect heuristic” in which “for activities we enjoy, we tend to rate the risks as lower and the benefits as higher than they really are.” Fox-Glassman added that mountaineers may also be susceptible to the bias of “probability weighting” in which they under-weigh the chance of rare harmful events like injuries and fatalities. 

Mountaineering scholars have explored how climbers’ deaths—when they do occur—are made meaningful to the sporting culture. One cultural practice is to convert these deaths into what might be called “memento mori” figures. Memento mori is the Latin phrase for “remember death.” During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, memento mori figures—skulls, coffins and tombs—were used to heighten awareness of death in order to foster piety and to correct moral failings.

A very different memento mori tradition has defined mountaineering. Publications by mountaineering clubs and the news media have long played a role in establishing and communicating the significance of particular climbing deaths. More recently, documentary films, corporate websites and social media platforms have become central to this process.

Memento mori figures establish the cultural meaning of death. First, they provide explanatory frameworks for why certain deaths occurred, such as by rockfalls, equipment failures or unexpected storms. Second, these narratives highlight the conduct of the deceased and how they embodied the core values of the sport. Third, they provide authoritative warnings about what can go wrong during a climb. They impart knowledge that will inform how subsequent climbers approach specific routes and peaks. By making death a matter of public concern, memento mori figures promote a heightened consciousness of the risks that await climbers. This works to counterbalance the cognitive biases—identified above by Fox-Glassman—which downplay sporting risks.

Climate change has affected Patagonian landscapes and ecosystems, reshaping mountaineering spaces. Indeed, as Gernot Wagner, a climate economist and affiliate of the Columbia Climate School, remarked to GlacierHub, climate change “adds uncertainty” to mountain spaces. “And while a landslide, or rockfall, might seem like a natural event, many are anything but—they are events often directly attributable to fossil fuel emissions.”

Veteran mountaineers in Patagonia have identified recent environmental changes, such as the destabilization of moraine fields, the thinning and retreat of mountain glaciers and improved climbing conditions during summer months. In a 2018 publication, physicist and mountaineer Dörte Pietron highlighted how the “drier, warmer climate leads to a more unstable mountain environment, with more dangerous, difficult approaches and descents and increased rockfall.”

Mountaineers have adjusted how they represent death to consider new conditions of climate risk. One recent case illustrating this is that of Corrado Pesce, who was a well-known Italian mountaineer with extensive experience in the Patagonian Andes and the Alps. With his Argentine climbing partner Tomás Aguiló, Pesce made the first ascent of a new route on Cerro Torre in the Chaltén Massif. On the descent they were struck by an avalanche. Aguiló survived the ordeal, but Pesce died on the mountain.

Discussions in news media, climbing magazines and on social media established Pesce as a memento mori figure. He was remembered for his stoic resolve in the face of death, his accomplishments in mountain ranges around the world, and his nobility in demanding that Aguiló leave him on the mountain to save himself. Pesce was represented as an embodiment of the core values of the sport and celebrated as one of the best mountaineers of his generation. His death also provoked discussions about climate risk. For some, his death presented a stark warning about the perils of climbing during periods with elevated temperatures and significant avalanche potential.

Pesce’s death is the most well-known within an emerging line of warning among mountaineers regarding the need to recognize and adapt to climate risk. Veteran climbers have suggested avoiding certain routes during periods of heightened instability and only climbing during periods when there is greater mountain integrity. There are also fears about growing numbers of inexperienced climbers attempting routes in the Chaltén Massif without understanding the emerging panoply of new risks. The volunteer search and rescue team has borne the brunt of the increased popularity of the zone and the accidents that have ensued in the backcountry.   

Mountaineering deaths have long been framed as noble sacrifices that advance the sport. Now these deaths also provide points of leverage for climbers to advance arguments about how they might adapt to the new conditions of climate risk that are reshaping not just the Andes, but also other mountain ranges around the planet.

Marcos Mendoza is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Mississippi. His research focuses on social, political, legal and environmental issues in Patagonia and Mexico. His most recent book is The Patagonian Sublime: The Green Economy and Post-Neoliberal Politics. He can be reached by email (mendoza@olemiss.edu) or on X (@AnthroPatagonia).