Andre Labarca

Andre grew up in Central Chile, where his family ran a scuba-diving operation, but he has been a mountaineer and explorer at heart since the age of 15. Andre has spent more than 20 years as a climber and trekking guide in Patagonia and has been one of the drivers of the development of sports-climbing routes and new trekking routes throughout the region. He is considered a true Patagonia mountaineering pioneer, having scaled some of the region’s most formidable peaks, including all three towers in Torres del Paine. Andre is also one of the region’s most passionate and knowledgeable guides, who seeks to give travelers a 360-degree understanding of Patagonia, from bird songs, to glacier calving to native flora, to the sustainable concepts of Leave No Trace. It is part of his view that a journey to Patagonia should be a complete experience, one that is intimate and transformative, so that a traveler can continue to marvel at our beautiful planet and learn to respect and connect with the “Pachamama,” or the mother world. 

“A single day in Patagonia can have sun, rain, and snow. But it is the wind that I love most, the way it constantly moves and blows, I’ve never seen anything else like it except here.”