An elective course of the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, designed and operated together with Patagonia on Foot, an outdoor education school based in Patagonia. UTDT provides the academic framework and the credit. Patagonia on Foot runs everything on the ground.
AWARD
Program awarded the Innovations That Inspire award by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), given to the course Mountain Leadership and Learning, co-created by Universidad Torcuato Di Tella and Patagonia on Foot.
THE PROGRAM
A course you take by walking.
Patagonia: Mountain Leadership & Learning is a seven-day immersion in the Argentine Andes, taken as Module 5 of the UTDT program Business in Argentina: Understanding Emerging Markets. It is open to MBA and Executive MBA students, both international and from UTDT, and carries 6.1 ECTS credits.
You work in a team that has to make real decisions with real consequences: when the weather turns, when someone is tired, when the group has to choose between pushing on and stopping. There is no printed case. The case is the group you are in, and the material it produces is analyzed the same evening.
The course is led academically by Professor Patricio Nelson and is built around structured exercises and reflection. From your own experience and from your peers' feedback, you build a picture of how you lead and how you contribute to a team, and you leave with a concrete plan for a team you already work with.
THE PROGRAM ON VIDEO
Three minutes
on the moutains.
01
The group is the case.
There is no printed case study. The case is you: the decisions your team makes when the weather turns, when someone is struggling, when you have to choose between pushing on and stopping. Every day produces real material, and your peers' feedback does the rest.
02
Real uncertainty,
managed risk.
The uncertainty is genuine. The risk is not. Certified mountain guides, a doctor travelling with the expedition, satellite emergency communication, a support vehicle and horse-assisted evacuation. You also learn something by watching how people who know the terrain make decisions under pressure.
03
A week you do not forget.
Sharing a tent, cooking, carrying weight, arriving tired and starting again the next morning. What happens between classmates after a week like this does not happen in a lecture hall, and it keeps working long after everyone has flown home.
04
All the gear included.
We provide all the mountain equipment — backpack, sleeping bag, sleeping pads, trekking poles and tents — and handle the full logistics to international safety standards.
HOW IT WORKS
A course that starts before you fly
and ends after you are home.
The expedition is the laboratory, not the whole program. You arrive having already run two diagnostics, and the work closes weeks later with an action plan for a team you actually work with.
Step 1
Admission to the course
UTDT faculty, together with Patagonia on Foot, builds the group from the applications received. A health screening is part of the process.
Step 2
Personal styles self-assessment
You complete the assessment and receive your profile. It is the baseline against which you will read everything that happens in the mountains.
Step 3
Diagnosis of a real team
Before travelling, you diagnose a team you belong to today, at work or at your institution. That team is the final destination of everything you learn.
Step 5
Assessment and action plan
The graded work closes the course: identify the causes of what happened and design concrete actions for the real team you diagnosed before travelling.
Step 6
Faculty feedback
Each participant receives a final assessment from the faculty on their process: how they led, how they supported others, and what to work on next.
THE EXPEDITION, IN NUMBERS
What to know before you decide.
Dates
Saturday, January 30 to
Friday, February 5, 2027
Where
Lanín National Park
San Martín de los Andes, Argentina
Route
Puerto Arturo
to Laguna Verde
Nights
2 in a hotel (days 1 and 7)
5 in mountain tents
Group Size
Minimum 16, maximum 26
admission by application
What you take home
Does not fit in the backpack
SAFETY
You are a long way from a road.
You are never far from help.
All operational, logistical and safety aspects of the program are run by Patagonia on Foot, an outdoor education school that has been operating expeditions in Patagonia for years, with more than 300 five-star Google reviews. Every expedition carries its own doctor, satellite emergency communication and an evacuation plan agreed with the national park before departure.
PREPARATION
Am I fit enough?
It is the question we get most, and the honest answer is that you do not need to be an athlete, but you do need to arrive trained. The technical difficulty is low: no climbing, no altitude. The physical demand is moderate, and it repeats day after day.
No mountain experience required
Most participants have never been on an expedition. The techniques are taught on the ground. What cannot be taught on the ground is fitness.
There is still time
January is months away. Training toward a fixed date is easier than training in general, and this is one of the rare times the date is set in advance.
Arriving fit lets you learn
Someone who arrives underprepared spends the week thinking about their legs. Someone who arrives trained can concentrate on what they came for, which is watching how they decide and how they lead.
It is your first contribution to the team
Arriving in condition is not a formality. In the mountains the pace is set by the group, and your preparation is part of what you bring to it.
WANT TO TALK TO SOMEONE WHO HAS DONE IT?
We can put you in touch with a former participant so you can hear, unfiltered, what the week is like. Write to us and we will arrange it.
DAY BY DAY
Seven days,
from the town to the mountains and back.
The program starts and ends in San Martín de los Andes. The first and last nights are in a hotel, included in the program fee. In between, five nights in tents.
01
Saturday, January 30
Welcome and framing.
Group meeting at 5:00 p.m. at a hotel in San Martín de los Andes. Introductions to faculty and mountain staff, framing of the course and of the days ahead.
Hotel night Included.
02
Sunday, January 31
Puerto Arturo, Lake Lolog.
After breakfast, private transfer to Puerto Arturo on Lake Lolog, where the group spends the full day on activities and expedition framing. Working teams are formed. You receive your backpack, sleeping bag, trekking poles and trail dishware, and store everything you are not taking until day 7. First night in tents, and the last day with hot showers and indoor facilities.
Not internet connection from here on.
03
Monday, February 1
Puerto Arturo to Auquinco.
The traverse begins, walking around Lake Lolog. As people get to know each other and take on responsibilities, the course content starts being practised on the trail. Part of the equipment travels in your backpack, part on horseback.
The expedition begins.
04
Tuesday, February 2
Auquinco to Rincón de los Pinos.
We leave Lake Lolog behind and move into a valley. The group starts to consolidate as further dimensions of leadership and the traits of effective teams are explored. Night in tents at Rincón de los Pinos.
05
Wednesday, February 3
Rincón de los Pinos to Portezuelo.
The landscape changes as we climb into the terrain of ancient volcanoes. The challenges grow, and the group and its leaders are tested again.
06
Thursday, February 4
Portezuelo to Laguna Verde.
An early start. Weather and group readiness permitting, the team may summit a volcano and walk around its crater. We then descend to Laguna Verde, a remarkable lagoon, and camp at a site with toilets and showers. Your belongings are returned to you. Closing dinner and an evening of surprises.
Possible volcano summit.
Friday, February 5
07
Closing and return.
Closing of the program and commitment to action. Lunch at the campsite and private transfer to San Martín de los Andes. End of program. Optional closing dinner at a restaurant, not included.
Hotel night included.
GETTING HERE
Four things to arrange before you fly.
Travel to Patagonia is not part of the program fee. Here is what you need to sort out yourself, and when.
Your flights to San Martín de los Andes
The town has its own airport, Aviador Carlos Campos (airport code CPC, in Chapelco), with domestic connections from Buenos Aires. It is also reachable by road from Bariloche and from Neuquén city. Plan to arrive on January 30 in time for the 5:00 p.m. meeting, or the day before.
Medical and travel insurance
Valid insurance meeting UTDT's requirements is mandatory and is not included in the program fee. UTDT verifies it during the admission process. Make sure your policy covers trekking and remote-area evacuation.
Your personal gear
Technical equipment is provided. What you bring is personal clothing and footwear, layered for changeable mountain weather, plus a headlamp and any personal medication. The full list is handed out at the mandatory applicant briefing.
Being offline for six days
There is no mobile signal or way to charge devices after day 2. Tell whoever needs to know before you leave. The expedition carries satellite communication for emergencies.
Luggage you are not taking into the mountains is stored safely from day 2 until day 7
COURSE CONTENT
We swap walls and whiteboards
for mountains, lakes and forest.
What changes at Patagonia on Foot is how teaching and learning happen. Students are participants, not spectators: they observe, feel and live situations that cannot be reproduced in a classroom.
LEADERSHIP & TEAMS
In this course you will
-
Understand yourself in depth and identify your profile as a leader.
-
Be part of a working team, identify its variables and assess its potential.
-
Take away tools to build a high-performing team.
-
Make decisions under uncertainty, with incomplete information and real consequences.
-
Give and receive peer feedback on how you lead and how you support others.
LIFE OUTDOORS
Along the way
-
Use outdoor living and environmental conservation techniques.
-
Gain the tools to plan safe, self-sufficient mountain trips of your own.
-
Pack a backpack and walk with it.
-
Set up camp and cook mountain food.
-
Understand the relationship between safety and comfort.
-
Read the variables that shape planning for outdoor activity.
-
-
Use technical equipment correctly and understand why looking after it matters.
FACULTY & STAFF
Who leads the experience.
UTDT faculty accompany the group for the full seven days, together with the mountain guides and staff of Patagonia on Foot.
WHAT THE FEE COVERS
You come to live it.
We handle the rest.
Technical equipment is part of the program. You arrive in San Martín de los Andes with your personal clothing, and nothing else.
-
All meals during the expedition
-
From dinner on day 1 through lunch on day 7.
-
Dietary needs
Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free meals are available throughout the expedition. Because we cook in the field and in mountain huts, we're unable to offer kosher, halal, low-sodium or diabetic-specific menus. Please let us know about any dietary requirement when you register.
-
-
Two hotel nights in San Martín de los Andes
-
Nights of day 1 and day 7, shared rooms.
-
-
Campsites along the route
-
Five nights in mountain tents, all sites and permits arranged.
-
-
Technical equipment
-
Backpack, sleeping bag, trekking poles and trail dishware.
-
-
Certified mountain guides and support staff
-
With the group throughout the expedition.
-
-
Expedition doctor
-
Travelling with the group for the whole route.
-
-
Horse-assisted gear transport
-
Horses carry part of the load to lighten your backpack, and are available for emergency evacuation.
-
-
Satellite emergency communication
-
In place from the moment the group leaves the road.
-
-
Support vehicle
-
Available throughout the program.
-
-
Private ground transport
-
All transfers from and to San Martín de los Andes.
-
What the fee does not cover
So there are no surprises, this sits outside the program fee.
-
Travel to and from Patagonia
-
Mandatory medical and travel insurance
-
Required personal gear (clothing, footwear, headlamp)
-
Water purification filters or water treatment
-
Optional closing dinner at a restaurant on day 7
-
Costs arising from voluntarily leaving the expedition
-
Personal expenses
-
Anything not listed under what the fee covers
GEAR & CLOTHING
POSTULACIÓN Y ADMISIÓN
Cómo se accede al programa.
La postulación es el primer contacto que tenemos con vos antes de proyectar un camino juntos. Te sugerimos completarla con tiempo y dedicación.
01
Completás el formulario
El formulario de postulación es la puerta de entrada. Ahí nos contás quién sos y por qué querés estar.
02
Se conforma el grupo
El equipo docente de la Universidad, junto a Patagonia on Foot, selecciona a los participantes.
03
Recibís el email de aceptación
Los seleccionados reciben por correo la documentación obligatoria y el listado de equipo y vestimenta.
04
Confirmás tu vacante
Una vez recibido el email de aceptación tenés 5 días hábiles para confirmar tu participación mediante el pago de la primera cuota.
Criterios de admisión
El equipo de docentes de la Universidad, junto a Patagonia on Foot, selecciona a los postulantes con el objetivo de formar un grupo rico en experiencias, trayectorias y personalidades. Buscamos que cada integrante obtenga el mayor beneficio y sea fuente de inspiración para los demás.
Trayectoria
Promedio académico dentro del MBA o Executive MBA.
Diversidad
Buscamos un equipo equilibrado en géneros, perfiles y experiencias.
Modalidad
Modalidad de cursada dentro del MBA/EMBA.
Condiciones para participar
Estado físico y de salud compatibles con una expedición de ocho días.
¿Tenés dudas antes de completar el formulario? Podemos conectarte con un egresado de ediciones anteriores: escribinos y coordinamos.
QUIENES YA LO VIVIERON
No lo decimos nosotros.
Lo dicen ellos.
"Seis días junto a tus compañeros de la maestría en Di Tella. Se nota el profesionalismo y la preparación. Sin duda los volveríamos a elegir."
Tomás Moreno Acevedo, MBA UTDT
"Un desafío físico, emocional y académico. Una combinación perfecta de exigencia y disfrute."
Francisco Pasetto, MBA UTDT
"Aprendimos liderazgo, trabajo en equipo, escucha activa e introspección."
Agustina Resio, MBA UTDT
Preguntas frecuentes.
No conquistamos montañas,
sino a nosotros mismos.
Edmund Hillary
POSTULACIÓN
Una edición al año · 20 al 27 de febrero de 2027 · San Martín de los Andes
Completá el formulario de postulación ahora: es el primer contacto que tenemos para conocerte antes de proyectar un camino juntos.
Dudas antes de postularte, escribinos a info@patagoniaonfoot.com
THE PROGRAM
A course you take by walking.
Patagonia: Mountain Leadership & Learning is a seven-day immersion in the Argentine Andes, taken as Module 5 of the UTDT program Business in Argentina: Understanding Emerging Markets. It is open to MBA and Executive MBA students, both international and from UTDT, and carries 6.1 ECTS credits.
You work in a team that has to make real decisions with real consequences: when the weather turns, when someone is tired, when the group has to choose between pushing on and stopping. There is no printed case. The case is the group you are in, and the material it produces is analyzed the same evening.
The course is led academically by Professor Patricio Nelson and is built around structured exercises and reflection. From your own experience and from your peers' feedback, you build a picture of how you lead and how you contribute to a team, and you leave with a concrete plan for a team you already work with.
COURSE CONTENT
We swap walls and whiteboards
for mountains, lakes and forest.
What changes at Patagonia on Foot is how teaching and learning happen. Students are participants, not spectators: they observe, feel and live situations that cannot be reproduced in a classroom.
LEADERSHIP & TEAMS
In this course you will
-
Understand yourself in depth and identify your profile as a leader.
-
Be part of a working team, identify its variables and assess its potential.
-
Take away tools to build a high-performing team.
-
Make decisions under uncertainty, with incomplete information and real consequences.
-
Give and receive peer feedback on how you lead and how you support others.
LIFE OUTDOOR
Along the way
-
Use outdoor living and environmental conservation techniques.
-
Gain the tools to plan safe, self-sufficient mountain trips of your own.
-
Pack a backpack and walk with it.
-
Set up camp and cook mountain food.
-
Understand the relationship between safety and comfort.
-
Read the variables that shape planning for outdoor activity.
-
Use technical equipment correctly and understand why looking after it matters.
FACULTY & STAFF
Who leads the experience.
UTDT faculty accompany the group for the full seven days, together with the mountain guides and staff of Patagonia on Foot.
WHAT THE COVERS
You come to live it.
We handle the rest.
Technical equipment is part of the program. You arrive in San Martín de los Andes with your personal clothing, and nothing else.
-
All meals during the expedition
-
From dinner on day 1 through lunch on day 7.
Two hotel nights in San Martín de los Andes
-
Nights of day 1 and day 7, shared rooms.
-
-
Campsites along the route
-
Five nights in mountain tents, all sites and permits arranged.
-
-
Technical equipment
-
Backpack, sleeping bag, trekking poles and trail dishware.
-
-
Certified mountain guides and support staff
-
With the group throughout the expedition.
-
-
Expedition doctor
-
Travelling with the group for the whole route.
-
-
Horse-assisted gear transport
-
Horses carry part of the load to lighten your backpack, and are available for emergency evacuation.
-
-
Satellite emergency communication
-
In place from the moment the group leaves the road.
-
-
Private ground transport
-
All transfers from and to San Martín de los Andes.
-
-
National park entry fees
-
Lanín National Park access and permits.
-
What the fee does not cover
So there are no surprises, this sits outside the program fee.
-
Travel to and from Patagonia
-
Mandatory medical and travel insurance
-
Required personal gear (clothing, footwear, headlamp)
-
Water purification filters or water treatment
-
Optional closing dinner at a restaurant on day 7
-
Costs arising from voluntarily leaving the expedition
-
Personal expenses
-
Anything not listed under what the fee covers
GEAR & CLOTHING
POSTULACIÓN Y ADMISIÓN
Cómo se accede al programa.
La postulación es el primer contacto que tenemos con vos antes de proyectar un camino juntos. Te sugerimos completarla con tiempo y dedicación.
01
Completás el formulario
El formulario de postulación es la puerta de entrada. Ahí nos contás quién sos y por qué querés estar.
02
Se conforma el grupo
El equipo docente de la Universidad, junto a Patagonia on Foot, selecciona a los participantes.
03
Recibís el email de aceptación
Los seleccionados reciben por correo la documentación obligatoria y el listado de equipo y vestimenta.
04
Confirmás tu vacante
Una vez recibido el email de aceptación tenés 5 días hábiles para confirmar tu participación mediante el pago de la primera cuota.
Criterios de admisión
El equipo de docentes de la Universidad, junto a Patagonia on Foot, selecciona a los postulantes con el objetivo de formar un grupo rico en experiencias, trayectorias y personalidades. Buscamos que cada integrante obtenga el mayor beneficio y sea fuente de inspiración para los demás.
Trayectoria
Promedio académico dentro del MBA o Executive MBA.
Diversidad
Buscamos un equipo equilibrado en géneros, perfiles y experiencias.
Modalidad
Modalidad de cursada dentro del MBA/EMBA.
Condiciones para participar
Estado físico y de salud compatibles con una expedición de ocho días.
¿Tenés dudas antes de completar el formulario? Podemos conectarte con un egresado de ediciones anteriores: escribinos y coordinamos.
QUIENES YA LO VIVIERON
No lo decimos nosotros.
Lo dicen ellos.
"Seis días junto a tus compañeros de la maestría en Di Tella. Se nota el profesionalismo y la preparación. Sin duda los volveríamos a elegir."
Tomás Moreno Acevedo, MBA UTDT
"Un desafío físico, emocional y académico. Una combinación perfecta de exigencia y disfrute."
Francisco Pasetto, MBA UTDT
"Aprendimos liderazgo, trabajo en equipo, escucha activa e introspección."
Agustina Resio, MBA UTDT
Preguntas frecuentes.
No conquistamos montañas,
sino a nosotros mismos.
Edmund Hillary
POSTULACIÓN
Una edición al año · 20 al 27 de febrero de 2027 · San Martín de los Andes
Completá el formulario de postulación ahora: es el primer contacto que tenemos para conocerte antes de proyectar un camino juntos.
Dudas antes de postularte, escribinos a info@patagoniaonfoot.com
KEY DATES AND ADMISION
How you get in.
Admission runs through UTDT. Payment and everything on the ground runs through Patagonia on Foot. These are the dates that matter, in order.
01
OCTOBER 1
Nomination by your home institution.
Partner universities submit their nominations to UTDT.
02
UNTIL OCTOBER 15
UTDT application.
You submit your application through the UTDT platform.
03
OCTOBER 19
Mandatory briefing for applicants.
A session covering program details, the required gear list and next steps. Attendance is required for all applicants.
04
UNTIL OCTOBER 26
Personal documents.
You complete the Patagonia on Foot personal information form, including the health screening, and submit the UTDT Student Disclaimer and Acknowledgement Form.
05
BY NOVEMBER 6
Rincón de los Pinos to Portezuelo.
Acceptances are sent out. If there are more applicants than places, a waitlist is used.
06
BY NOVEMBER 23
Deposit of USD 450.
A non-refundable deposit paid to Patagonia on Foot secures your place. If it is not received by this date, the place is released.
BY DECEMBER 10
07
Full payment.
The balance is paid directly to Patagonia on Foot. If it is not received by this date, the place is released.
Who to ask what