She was the kind of person who didn't just visit a place—she wanted to know it
Nas montanhas do fim do mundo, onde os Andes mergulham em direção ao Canal de Beagle, duas vidas se apagaram sobre o gelo do Glaciar Vinciguerra, em Ushuaia. Abril Marino, uma jovem uruguaia de 25 anos movida pela sede de descoberta, e seu guia Emiliano Feidas não retornaram de uma trilha de 14 quilômetros que milhares percorrem a cada ano. O que exatamente aconteceu permanece sob investigação, mas o episódio nos lembra que a natureza selvagem não distingue entre o experiente e o entusiasmado — e que a beleza dos lugares mais remotos do planeta carrega sempre um preço silencioso.
- Quando Abril Marino e seu guia não reapareceram no tempo esperado, equipes de resgate foram mobilizadas para um terreno que, embora não extremamente elevado, exigiu cordas e equipamentos de alpinismo para ser alcançado.
- A operação de recuperação durou horas, com resgatistas trabalhando metodicamente sobre o gelo instável até trazer os dois corpos ao hospital de Ushuaia — o que começou como busca tornou-se investigação de morte.
- As autoridades suspeitam de uma queda durante a caminhada, mas a sequência exata dos eventos ainda não foi determinada, e o caso foi encaminhado ao poder judiciário.
- O incidente lança luz sobre os riscos reais de trilhas em regiões glaciais remotas da Patagônia e levanta perguntas sobre protocolos de segurança em expedições desse tipo.
Abril Marino tinha 25 anos, vinha de Maldonado, no Uruguai, e trabalhava como garçonete no hotel-cassino Enjoy, em Punta del Este. Quem a conhecia descrevia uma jovem de apetite insaciável por experiências — alguém que não apenas visitava lugares, mas queria habitá-los, senti-los, conectar-se com as pessoas que encontrava pelo caminho. Uma trilha pelo Glaciar Vinciguerra, nos confins da Patagônia argentina, era exatamente o tipo de aventura que Abril escolheria.
A trilha em si não é tecnicamente extrema: 14 quilômetros de ida e volta, com duração média de oito horas. Mas o terreno exige respeito. Quando Marino e seu guia, Emiliano Feidas, não emergiram no tempo previsto, equipes de resgate foram acionadas. Encontraram os dois no local — um ponto que, apesar de não ser de grande altitude, demandou cordas e equipamentos de montanhismo para ser acessado. A operação durou horas. Às quatro da tarde, os corpos haviam sido retirados e levados ao hospital de Ushuaia.
As autoridades suspeitam de uma queda durante a caminhada, mas a causa exata segue sob investigação judicial. Amigos e colegas de Abril falaram à imprensa nos dias seguintes, relembrando uma mulher cuja curiosidade pelo mundo parecia não ter limites. O Glaciar Vinciguerra recebe milhares de visitantes por ano, e a maioria volta para casa com fotografias e histórias. Desta vez, dois não voltaram — e as perguntas sobre o que houve naquele gelo, e se algo poderia ter sido diferente, permanecem sem resposta.
Abril Marino was twenty-five years old, from the Uruguayan city of Maldonado, and worked as a server at a restaurant inside the Enjoy hotel-casino in Punta del Este. Her friends remembered her as someone drawn to adventure, the kind of person who lit up when discovering new places and meeting new people. On a winter day in Argentine Patagonia, she set out on a trek across the Vinciguerra Glacier near Ushuaia with her guide, Emiliano Feidas. Neither would return.
The glacier walk itself is not technically extreme—the trail stretches fourteen kilometers round-trip and typically takes about eight hours to complete, according to Argentine reporting. But the terrain demands respect. When Marino and Feidas did not emerge as expected, rescue teams mobilized to the remote site where they were eventually found. The location itself was not particularly high in elevation, yet it required a full technical operation to reach. Rescuers had to deploy ropes and mountaineering equipment, the kind of gear you use when the ground beneath you is unstable and the margin for error is measured in meters.
What happened on that glacier remains under investigation. Authorities suspect a fall occurred during the hike, though the exact sequence of events has not been determined. The recovery operation itself took hours—teams working methodically through difficult terrain to bring both bodies down to the hospital in Ushuaia. By four in the afternoon, the work was complete. What had been a missing persons search became a death investigation, and the case moved into the hands of the judiciary.
Marina's colleagues and friends spoke to journalists in the days after, describing a young woman whose appetite for experience seemed boundless. She was the kind of person who didn't just visit a place—she wanted to know it, to feel it, to connect with the people she met there. A glacier trek in one of the world's most remote regions fit that profile perfectly. It was the sort of thing Abril would do.
The Vinciguerra Glacier sits in one of Earth's last wild corners, where the Andes descend toward the Beagle Channel and the Southern Ocean beyond. It is beautiful and unforgiving. Thousands of people trek there each year, most returning home with photographs and stories. Two did not. The investigation continues, and with it, the difficult questions about what went wrong on that ice, and whether anything could have prevented it.
Citações Notáveis
She was adventurous and used to be enchanted by the places and people she knew— Friends of Abril Marino, speaking to media
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does a glacier trek that takes eight hours and covers fourteen kilometers require such elaborate rescue equipment to reach the bodies?
Because a glacier is not solid ground. It's moving ice, fractured and unstable. Even if the spot where they fell wasn't at high elevation, the terrain around it—crevasses, ice bridges, the slope itself—makes it dangerous to approach without technical gear. You can't just walk there.
The source says authorities suspect a fall. Is that the most likely explanation, or are they still genuinely uncertain?
They're investigating. A fall is the working theory, but "suspect" is the honest word here. On a glacier, there are other possibilities—a crevasse collapse, a sudden change in the ice, disorientation in weather. They're being careful not to assume.
Abril worked in a casino restaurant in Punta del Este. That's a very different world from glacier trekking in Ushuaia. What drew her to that kind of risk?
Her friends said she was adventurous, that she loved places and people. That's not recklessness—that's curiosity. She wanted to experience things fully. A glacier trek is the kind of thing that calls to people like that.
Does the fourteen-kilometer distance seem reasonable for an eight-hour trek, or is that a slow pace?
It's slow, which makes sense. You're not hiking on a trail—you're moving across ice, often roped to a guide, watching for hazards. Eight hours for fourteen kilometers is deliberate, careful movement. Which raises the question: what happened that made careful movement not enough?
What happens now, legally?
The judiciary takes over. They'll want to know if the guide followed proper protocols, if the weather was a factor, if there were any equipment failures. It becomes a matter of record, of accountability.