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==Season 2023/24==
2024-01-23 to 2024-01-29 / 6,5 days / Hiking / WEBO / Option 3, 3B? (Bariloche+), Option 2, 2B, C (Bariloche+) / Natalie & Tomáš
Overview (sorry for the length):
Since the mountains of Bariloche are a bit of a playground of trails, we did a variation of mainly high trails starting from Laguna Guiterezz and onward to Pampa Linda (joining Option 3 midway) and then followed the "Jesuitos/Vuriloche" route to Ralún (Option 2). We had a few short and a few long days to make a total of 6,5 days.
For the Bariloche part we wanted to go Lago Guiterezz -Lago Frey (via optional valley)- Refugio Jacob -Refugio Italiana ( behind which you join Option 3) and out via Lago Ilón to Pampa Linda. However since I banged up my knee I separated from Tomáš. He went on to do the high route as planned from Jacob and I went down the Huella Andina and then back up via the Laguna Azul trail to meet near Laguna Creton.
Re-supply is possible but expensive and with limited variety at Pampa Linda so bringing most of your food is advised. I restocked on bread (5mil for 1kg or 2.5mil for half) some sweets (2-2.5mil) and had a meal (9mil). There is weak wifi at the tourist info stand (sometimes not working at all, sometimes passing through messages, e-mails and even non-interactive websites, the speed was not a function of the number of people trying to connect) and two campsites (1@4mil, no services apart from toilets and water and 1@8mil with shared electricity and showers).
Highlights of the Bariloche part were indeed mountain vistas, Torre principal of Cerro Catedral lurking everywhere the first towo days, rock scrambling and lagoons. The disadvantages were the slow terrain, (a lot of edging on rock/kitty litter dirt/dust on slab/steep tree belaying dirt) and park rules. You have to register online (easy and free, there is a Goodle form on park's website) and register in person at every Refugio (it is free and if they do not see you, you can get away with no registering, we only actually did it once). Camping is free but it can be annoying because of the amount of people concentrating around refugios. Officially you are only allowed to camp near refugios and at certain designated places, but given the number of tent places along the route, this rule is often breached that is often breached. We never bought food from the refugios but that option is out there.
As for the Jesuitas route (Vuriloche) we were lucky because things were dry and therefore the trek was a lot better than expected. The forest walking/mud tunnels felt like Indiana Jones. The biodiversity of mosses and ferns felt like home (West coast of British Columbia) and the valley settler homesteads were picture perfect at times (and smelled like summer houses in central Europe). The trek to Tronador's "Refugio Viejo" was not to be missed and neither were the hot springs near Ford at [101,3/351], if you cam get there around nightime. The passing through the border with the Carabineros was alarmingly easy. They did not check our food (we smuggled a tomato!) and they barely asked any questions, they just took our passports and came back with a stamp (no PDI paper). Don't forget to check in with the Argentinian border patrol before leaving, if it wasn't for Tomáš, I would have had to walk back from the carabinieros because I did not think it was necessary since I never got an entry stamp from Argentina in the first place –I was wrong. The Argentinians made us fill out a piece of paper to show to the Chilians and perhaps communicated with them that we were coming.
Things to note:
-The Terrain around Bariloche is very much alpine-like terrain. It is slow and can be dangerous so if you are not comfortable with steep terrain, rock, edging, gullies and possible snow then I suggest choosing the Huella Andina or the regular GPT21 Option 03 (it iw comparable to GPT11-GPT12 around Cerro Dedos or the ridge at the end of GPT08).
-The mud: it is said that in the wet season or after a recent rain the trail on the Jesuitos route gets so muddy that it may be impassable. From what we saw, most of the mud tunnels were very dry so I think it would take a hard rain to make it impassable.
-The mosquitos were a thing but we were only "swarmed " in our camp spot on the other side of Cayute(amd we built our tent once for lunch against them). Horse flies seem to be dying off but they were crazy around the Caribeneros.
- Option 2C on the North side of Rio Blanco is not meant for pedestrians, there is a sign saying for pedestrians to stay on the Right (South). Maybe it is because of the ford over Rio Blanco (one out of the two bridges still exist, the first one on the west side). There is a skinny suspension bridge over the river at the hotsprings (300 m SE from the ford waypoint) but you can easily ford as well. Some of the bridges on osm are broken and nonexistent (will be corrected in spring 2024).
- we got a hitch for only the last 4km of the Laguna Cayute road, then hitched slowly to Puerto Varas for food and a rest.
The details:
We started by getting out of Bariloche by a city bus number 41 (0.2 USD per person, goes every 30 minutes, Google maps or Moovit [more precise] has the schedules, you need to have a SUBE card [available at bus terminals] valid in all of Argentina, topping it online is seemingly impossible, in theory there are many small shops that can top it up [they are marked SUBE, the SUBE app has their locations] but we got lucky only at the third such shop) to Villa Lago Guiterezz and then hitchhiking to the southern end of Lago Guiterezz, where we started walking along a very crowded beach and then in-the-evening-decidedly -not-crowded lakeshore to a beach at the mouth of Arroy van Titter. We then walked towards Lago Frey by taking a partialy (it is probably cleared from time to time) overgrown but beautiful valley just south of the main route. It was slow and swampy (cca for 2 km/1 hour but had little people and offered impressive views of Cerro Catedral south and it's towers. Through this we bypassed the Refugio Frey and made our way to the first of many passes near Laguna Schmoll. The way up is simple scrambling anyone can do, but the way down was a mix of slow edging and sand sliding (it is probably a lotnless travelled). We waited until the heat of the day ended to make our way up the second pass above Refuigo Jacob. For this second pass it was easy walking on the way up but the way down was once again slow edging on relatively steep terrain. We registered and camped at Refugio Jacob to have an early start on the next day. The Refugio and campsites were packed and felt cramped.
I had a bad encounter with a log that morning and my knee was banged up so the next day Tomáš and I split. He went on to the high route and I went down the Huella Andina and up again to a meeting spot near Lago Laguna Creton via Laguna Azul.
As for getting down the Huella Andina it was slower than expected but fine, and getting up to Azul was fast but more involved than expected. The last 200vertical meters was low angle slab beside a waterfall, which was fun for going up but maybe not so fun for the way down. The rest of the way to Creton and camping was easy with fun slabby terrain.
Tomáš's report:
I went from Refugio Jacob to Refugio Italiano through Pico Refugio and then to Pampa Linda through laguna Illón. It took me two full days. The warden at Jacob told us that the route to Refugio Italiano was closed due to snow (a lot fell late in spring), so I met noone on the route, though I saw a set of footprints that were at most from the previous day. The route is mostly marked by cairns, sometimes it is invisible and sometimes you can see a painted sign (there is little consistency in terms of shape or colour of the marking) but is easy to follow with a map. The climb to Pico Refugio was easy scrambling. There were bolted rings that you can use to secure a rope but I did not think it was dangerous to climb unsecured. It was never vertical, the holds were good. It took me 10-15 minutes to get through this section of maybe 50 vertical meters. SAC 5 or slightly under. A much less vertical zigzagging route appeared then on that went to a pass still before Pico Refugio. From then on I sometimes did walk on snow but it was soft without any creeks eating it from underneath so I felt safe. It took me four hours to get to Cerro Navidad. The gully from there was mostly under snow for about 300 vertical meters. I went down on the snow until a creek started flowing under it from left. Then I stayed on the left side of the undersnow creek or on bare rocks. Lower in the valley the route was abit eroded and there was even a short (20 metres - SAC 4 at most) fixed rope but it was not too difficult to get down. It was not easy walking though even in the valley, one crosses the stream several times and there are big stones even in the forrest (SAC 3). I took the first OSM route left to Refugio Italiano. It was quite (but not fully) vertical, but easy, I did use my hands and it was fun. It took me four hours from Cerro Navidad to Refugio Italiano, where there were lots (40?) of people at 4 PM.
I continued along the lake, where there was even a section with steps on the stone made out of metal rods (10 metres, SAC 3-4). This part is frequented and so was easy. It continued to be easy until Laguna CAB (though I lost the route several times going up in the forest). I reached the lagoon before dusk. I met two people on the near end of the lake. There were several people on the far end of the lake, where there are lots of mosquitoes, not recommended to camp. There is no trail around the lake - one fords the lake along its shore for about 1 km, it is not deep. I started going up to Cerro CAB. It is steep and was at first muddy but the route is clear enough in the bush and then marked by cairns on the rocky section (SAC 2-3). I reached the pass when it started to be fully dark. I continued the horizontal traverse (SAC 3-4) with a headlamp but 800 metres took me almost 40 minutes so I stopped before the route starts descending (thank god for the InRreach to InRrach messaging, I could let Natalie know I would not make it that night – the n3xt day it took me four additional jours to get there). It was hard to follow the cairns as one just walks on bare rocks with no visible trail whatsoever, sometimes using hands to go up or down a a few metres. There is a nice horizontal miniplateau ideal for sleeping on a warm windless night (no mosquitoes!) with plentiful water from the melting snow.
In the morning, I woke up to a splendid view of Tronador. I went down, at first again using my hands here and there (SAC 4), but not much. Mosquitoes during daytime in the valley, which is actually a pass you reach from above. The climb to the pass at Cerro Cristal is clear trail at first but the last 150 vertical metres is a diagonal upward traverse walking on large slabs or wedges made out of pure granite. Theirs slope is good and I thought it was fun and itnis quite scenic (SAC 3-4). Going down to laguna Creton is steep and the route is sometimes a bit hard to find but it is not too hard (SAC 3) I saw one tent around Laguna Creton and met about six people going my direction to Laguna Illón, where there was dozens of people at 4 PM. Going down I met over a dozen prople either going my way or going up (and then I met Natalie of course).
Altogether, this traverse took me to routes that are not overun with people and are quite nice with lots of views (Cerro Cathedral is a scary darling that has that name for a reason), being mostly above the tree line. However, the route is demanding – you will be happy to cover 1,5 km per hour. It seems many people go up to a refugio, spend the night and go down again, so the aproach routes to refugios are more popular than the connecting traverses between them. These routes seemed to be in quite good shape thanks to that.
From Pampa Linda, we followed the estabilished option, it was not very eventful and took us three days and a few hours. At the border, the carabinieros have a free basic camping there - expect only water and dry toilet, but you can leave your tent with things and go up to Refugio Viecho, which is functional and sleeps about 8 people plus there are several tent places near it. We met a Spanish couple with a guide who would climb Trenador the next day. People go to the border from Argentina for day trips or two day in and out trips, we met several groups and there were four tents for the night. From the border, we would meet one group per day and one settler per day. The route is travelled but not busy (carabinieros do not have horses and probably rotate by helicopter, we saw it the next day).
The hot springs are very clean and have perfect temperature, there are two pools for about even ten people altogether. On the other side of the bridge, there is a new house probably meant for tourists. We did not meet or see anybody so we just used the hotsprings but techically you probably should go and ask the setler about 300 m downstream on the other side of the river for permission. There is water everywhere on the trail even now when it had been dry for a few weeks. I looked for a route that would connect to La Junta in Cochamo and I found a start of a trail, but it might have been nothing and was anyway hopelessly overgrown.
*2023-Dec-28 / 3.5 days / Packrafting / SOBO / RP + RR (Variant A) / Lauren & Sebastian
