AbstractThe stratigraphy of cryogenic and glacigenic episodes recorded in Central Andes at latitude 33º south is compared with the magnetostratigraphy of five (I‐V) main Patagonian glaciations. Most of the Central Andes cold episodes are relatively dated. A much older event (≈ 2.3 × 106yearsBP) is needed to explain the oldest and largest Central Andes glaciation, the sediments of which are tectonically deformed. This is the beginning of climatic change in the Central Andes. Ice‐wedge casts in till formed 3.5 × 106yearsBPin southern Patagonia are related to an even older cold