Refuge Chacabuco (68°06′00″S 66°31′00″W) is an Antarctic refuge close to the San Martín Base, on which it depends. It is located in the area of the Bills Gulch glacier, on the Fallières Coast in the Antarctic Peninsula, and is administered by the Argentine Army.
The refuge was inaugurated on November 21, 1956, as logistical support and is the one located at the highest altitude of all the Argentine Antarctica, at about 1,535 metres (5,036 ft) above sea level on the route that leads to the Weddell Sea.
In 1956, during the building of the San Martin base, the Argentine Army installed three refuges to have logistical support from Marguerite Bay, in the Bellingshausen Sea , to the Mobiloil Inlet in the Weddell Sea, crossing the Antarctic Peninsula from west to east. The three refuges were the Chacabuco, the Yapeyú and the Maipo. The work requested 63 days, travelling about 786 kilometres (488 mi) using sled pulled by dogs. For the construction of the Chacabuco refuge, the army team made 17 trips from the Yapeyú refuge. Trips were hampered by the slopes of the area, the presence of ice and wind storms that exceeded 200 kilometres per hour.
The refuge was used for scientific tasks carried out during the International Geophysical Year in 1957 and 1958. It has food, equipment and food for men and dog, medicines and fuel.[1][circular reference]