Natalia Martinez
She has made many mountain ascents and collaborated on geographic and glaciological research in Patagonia, Central Andes, and Canada.
As a climber, she has reached numerous mountain peaks, mainly in the Andes of Argentina and Patagonia, but also in Chile, Bolivia, Nepal, the west coast of Canada, and the United States.
She has also made numerous long expeditions, mainly in Patagonia, Yukon, Alaska, and Mount Aconcagua.
Natalia has specialized as a professional guide providing technical, logistical, and security support for scientific expeditions in the mountains, working with the CECs (Center for Scientific Studies, Valdivia, Chile) in the central Andes and Patagonia and in the St. Elias Mountains (Yukon territories, Canada) for the glaciology group of the University of British Columbia.
In the Himalayas, she summited Mera Peak and Mount Baruntse (7,220 m), the latter in alpine style in a two-person team.
In the Central Andes, besides numerous expeditions to Mount Aconcagua, she has climbed Cerro Tolosa, Cerro Plata, and Penitentes among others.
But her favorite zone and scenery of her greatest achievements are Patagonia. These include the first ascents of Cerro Enroque, Cerro False Ilse, and Reclus volcano all in the Patagonian Icefield, where her most notable ascent was the first ascent of a coverted Patagonian peak: Aguilera Volcano (2.498 m), the last big unclimbed Volcano of the Andes and probably the most prominent unclimbed feature in Patagonia. To access the base of the volcano she made a 10-day crossing of the ice cap, and on the way back she also completed the first ascents of mount Esperanza, Spegazzini, Octante, and Anacoreta. The last two previously unnamed.
Further south, in the Cordillera Sarmiento, she made in winter the first absolute climbs of Mount Trono
and Cerro Alas de Ángel, respectively the second and third highest summit of this remote Patagonian range, characterized for having one of the most unforgiving climates in the world.
At the southern end of America, she recently made the second ascent and first in winter to Monte Sarmiento, the most emblematic mountain in Tierra del Fuego and one of the most difficult, attempted by dozens of expeditions in the 57 years that followed the first ascent, many of them composed by world-class climbers.
She has also achieved significant climbs in the northern end of the American continent. In 2015 she traveled to St. Elias Range (Yukon, Canada), where she made the first ascent of Mount Malaspina, the highest unclimbed named mountain in North America at the time.
In 2017 she made a solo attempt to traverse Mount Logan via the East Ridge, but her climb was stoped very high on the East Ridge by two earthquakes that made the hanging glaciers unstable and prompted an evacuation. Later, in 2019 she reached the highest point of North America at the summit of Mount Denali (Mackinley) via the west buttress.
On the West Coast of Canada and the United States, she has made multiple ascents of technical rock routes in the Squamish area, numerous ice climbs, and ski descents. In addition to many of the largest and most emblematic peaks in the area such as Baker, Shuksan, Adams, Black Tusk, Sky Pilot, Rainier, etc.
In 2021 she was part of the first ascent to Cerro Ilse, located in Southern Patagonian Icefield.