Hiking in Patagonia- Spring Break 2010 (Refugio Frey and Cerro Cathedral)
With our final exam out of the way, both written and aural, it was time to relax from the classroom.
The foothills of the Andes in Northern Patagonia
Heather and I caught a bus the following day, leaving Buenos Aires behind, and traveling the 20 hours to the town of Bariloche in northern Patagonia. We arrived, 50lbs packs on our backs, to a bluebird day midweek in Argentina’s little Switzerland. Our fist stop was the grocery store and Montagne equipment to stock up on 7 days of groceries and my last minute missing items (gloves and a toque) which would come in handy in the days to come. From there we made a quick stop at the local mountain club office for a bit of info, packed the food into our bags (now nearing 60lbs each) and finally caught a bus out to the base of Cerro Cathedral.
Heather, our fearless navigator.
Donning our packs we began the four hour (700m vertical) hike to Refugio Frey, a mountain hut dwarfed by Cerro Cathedral and Cerro Cathedral Sur. The landscape that had looked so similar to Kamloops from a distance proved to be remarkable unique once in it. The first part of our hike took us through the dead forest on one of the mountain sides, a graveyard of gray, brittle, branches and scarcely foliaged scrub. Adorning the graves were mountain flowers of all sorts, adding a stark yet beautiful contrast to the barren trees. Once we finished our traverse around the first hillside we began a gentle climb following the creek away from the lake below us. When we had the chance we filled our water bottles, savoring the snow-chilled water. The trail took us through a moister environment, through lush trees and fields of flowers then finally to the last steep climb up to the Refugio. The climb was… well lets just say it had been a while since either of us had seen a hill over 10m let alone climbed up one. We took it slow and steady, stopping to enjoy the increasingly beautiful view with growing frequency.
Leaving Lago Gutirrez behind
We watched the hills golden and the line of light slowly climb. The moon rose and added a beautiful counter point to the last light of the day. Finally, we arrived with the last ray of light around 9:00pm, set up our tent in the dark, cooked a quick dinner and went to sleep.
Excited about the day?
After a chilly night (we were definitely in the mountains) we awoke to the warmth of the sun heating up our tent. Stepping outside we were greeted by blue skies, crisp air, and the feel of muscles wondering what on earth we were doing. Soreness couldn’t dampen our spirits however and after a tasty breakfast we packed up and headed out.
Our break spot
Our path took us through a beautiful hanging valley along the shores of Laguna Tonchek to the base of its feeder creek. We were both on cloud nine, and to be honest anyone would have been on such an incredible day. We were finally free of the city, away from homework, and at long last back in the mountains. Even the next 500m that took us practically strait up scrambling over rocks couldn’t put a dint in our elation. Part way up we stopped for a snack (we had slept in quite a bit), and were caught up to by and Israeli couple. After a quick singing of each of our national anthems, we continued the rest of the 200m up to the next hanging valley and Laguna Schmoll. After a few hundred more photos from that viewpoint we started our last climb (another 200m) scrambling over rocks following the red circles. Cresting the saddle we found ourselves in a world of the muted earth tones of rock which finally gave way to a view of the valley below and the peaks beyond. We settled down in a patch of sun to eat some lunch, chatting with a couple other hikers, before deciding on our next leg.
The... trail?
We had two options, continue on to Refugio Jacob as we had originally planned (another 6ish hours) or head around the backside of Cerro Cathedral towards the ski hill and return to town to rethink our strategy. After careful consideration and finally assessing our bodies’ conditions we decided to head back to town since the day was wasting and we would have to hike in the dark if we wanted to reach Jacob. We set out, still following the red circles, on a pathless 5km traverse along a talus slope. Partway along we began to realize that we were running low on water, hadn’t put on sunscreen, and were carrying heavy bags that the elation of the day had caused us to forget.
The ridge and the end of the traverse
With sore burnt faces we took a break, finally got out our hats, and drank a couple of sips of water before setting out again. The traverse took the rest of the afternoon and by the time we finally crested the ridge that gave us a view back to Bariloche 6:00 had come and past and the chairlift down was closed. We took a break to assess our now very interesting situation and decided to hike down the mountain, hopefully to reach the base that night. By then we were out of water, suffering a bit of heat exhaustion, and just wanting to stop. Our downward climb involved some roads, some skree skiing, a tumble or two, a bit of blood, full darkness, and a few hours of protesting feet before we finally decided to stop and set up camp. We cooked another quick dinner in the dark then crawled into bed, resigned for another night of shivering cold.
Sunrise in the Andes
I got up early the next morning, tired of trying to stay warm and found a comfy piece of ground to watch the sun rise. Heater joined me a little while later for a cold breakfast and a planning session for the days to come. As we were talking a vehicle pulled up at the chairlift just below us but despite our fears of camping illegally they didn’t bother us. A second vehicle joined them as we were packing up the tent and we were finally off to finish our descent of the mountain. Not too much later we found ourselves walking through the ski village which we had left only a few days before and managed to time our arrival just right to catch the bus back to Bariloche.
