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→Season 2023/24
==Season 2023/24==
*2024-Mar-04 to 2024-Mar-09 / 6 days / Packrafting / SOBO / RP / Lauren & Seb
Overall: A majestic and adventurous section. One of the most remote ones that we have done, with lots of CC over different terrains (river bed, boulder slopes, glacier) and trails which are not very hard to follow (as long as you don’t lose them).
Tracks and Waypoints: Please download Roman’s GPS data. You will need it if you want to avoid countless hours of BB (I assume the verified tracks will be part of the GPT RP from next season onwards).
Weather: This is definitely a good weather route. We went in knowing that the weather might not be perfect, but weather forecast said that the days should be dry. They weren’t. We ended up walking 4/6 days in our drysuits. It wasn’t much of a problem in the end, as we had dry feet due to the latex feet on our dry suits, even though temperatures dropped as low as 5deg or less during the day. The rain made the ups and downs more difficult and time consuming, nevertheless we did not feel that the trail became unsafe at any moment. Still: If you can, make sure that a stable High Pressure System is hanging over the area before you go. It will make things more enjoyable and safe.
Day 1: We started from Cochrane via car to the hiking start near wp Gate {82P} [15.6/206]. It is possible to organize a taxi ride from town if you want, but we were so lucky that a friend offered to take us with his van. We reached the wp by noon and hiked quickly up the valley to camp at wp Camp {82P} [36.8/285]. It’s enjoyable and fast hiking on this stretch and a quiet campsite.
Day 2: Continuing up the valley turned out to be rather easy now. Previous accounts about difficult BB up to the pass and beyond did not apply for us as earlier groups have cleared the way with machetes (thank you Cy and GG) and also Aquilino Olivari has recently cleared the trail up to Lago Nef with his chainsaw. It’s a great effort from his side, and we were very thankful for it. It’s now really easy to follow the trail all the way to Lago Nef. We met Aquilino and Eva on our way up. We had a nice conversation, and he asked to share about his services, which we would like to do at this point to honor the work he puts into clearing the trail:
He is able to support with gear transport with his horses from the Rios Nef/Baker confluencia up to Lago Nef. He can support large expeditions, but also small self-supported tours. He just built a brand new refugio next to his puesto at wp Puesto {82P} [39.1/274]. If you want to bring more food and gear, to explore Lago and Glaciar Nef, and don’t feel like carrying it all up to Lago Nef on your back, you should consider giving him a call or whatsapp: +56 9 9472 5681. He will be happy to hear from you.
We camped at wp Camp {82P} [50.6/448].
Day 3: We got up early to paddle Lago Nef. Once we were awake, winds were already high and we decided to wait a while as lower winds were forecasted from 8am onwards. We set off at 7:45am and enjoyed an absolutely spectacular paddling experience through the icebergs. We paddled in two hours under medium to strong headwinds to the northwestern end of the lake. This is where Roman’s GPS starts. We followed it closely and it turned out to be fantastic; not much backtracking was needed as we followed it across the moraine. After we crossed onto the glacier, we decided to take a different path from around here -47.08133, -73.24656. Roman’s route traverses some steep parts of the glacier, which we were uncomfortable with. Instead we went 50 meters further onto the glacier, higher across the ice, and found a gentler and safer way down. We cut back to Roman’s route just before it leaves the ice. From there on it’s CC across large rock and TL to our camp spot at -47.09996, -73.25375 which lies somewhat sheltered behind a large rock.
Day 4: The trail through the cross valley starts well visible and loses itself from time to time. It’s no problem to find it with Roman’s GPS data. Important: Don’t miss the point where it starts climbing up the right side of the valley. We missed it and BBd up the steep slope until we found it again. Once you are high up on the right side of the valley it’s easy to follow all the way to -47.14531, -73.26141.
From there it’s easy CC along the river bed. Hard sand makes walking fast. You’ll then cross from the river bed into the high valley on the eastern side of Glaciar Colonia. We found the short traverse of the exposed granite rock at -47.19580, -73.25104 a sketchy part in wet conditions. It should be no issue when dry. This is where Huemul land starts :) We saw 4 of them that day including a family of 3.
Shortly after, the GPS route traverses the hill side next to the lake. At point -47.208860, -73.250455 the GPS route leads across a steep granite rock. We decided not to follow it when wet but to instead went a couple meters higher and traversed through a gentler part with vegetation and better footholds. You may also want to consider paddling across this short lake to avoid this CC traverse. We followed the GPS route to -47.20933, -73.24858 where we camped.
Day 5: More rain but again no problem in the drysuits! We followed Roman’s GPS file to the T. Not sure how he found the trail that leads up into the hills, but we are so grateful that he did. Lot’s of CC and TL until you reach that point, but from there it’s a really good trail. Can’t miss it anymore! We also didn’t find it dangerous despite the wet conditions. It was a bit steep at first, but not exposed except for one point at the very beginning before the uphill. The rain did not turn the trail into a mud bath as we had feared, it actually made the entire trail more grippy. Lot’s of ups and downs, slow progress, but an enjoyable day! We camped at the expedition camp at -47.24782, -73.19693 and setup our tent under their roof. It poured heavily that night and we were so happy to be able to keep everything dry!
Day 6: We managed to come down from the plateau without problems. Trail was easy to follow. The rain made progress slow as we treaded carefully, but the white granite was rougher and had more traction than expected. Overall we did not encounter any super ‘dangerous when wet’ areas along the entire trail, except the two steep traverses mentioned above.
We put-in near -47.27440, -73.17022 and paddled Lago Colonia with good backwind. Towards the end the wind became very strong and large waves made the landing at the water-out spot quite tricky and a bit dangerous due to the very large boulders in the entire area. Proceed with caution. After we packed the boat we portered the first rapid and rivered-in Rio Colonia after it. We lined the boat through the second rapid, as deflating/inflating our large two-seater is time consuming. Lining the boat down the rapid worked well and we only carried it the last 10 meters around the last drop where lining was not an option. We got back into the boat, set across to the other side and lined it another 50m as the rapid continues around the corner. After that it was free for all! No more portering, but the river remains challenging, there are a few more rapids and haystacks, that require constant focus. At one point the haystacks were at least 1.5m tall. It was a fun ride, but could have gone wrong easily. Assess the situation and proceed with caution the entire first 5km of Rio Colonia. Frequent ground contact.
After that it’s a fast ride down to the river-out where we reached around 6pm. During the last day we were in touch through inreach messaging with GPT Packrafter Jordan. He was so kind to arrange a pick-up for us from the river-out spot, as it was supposed to rain the entire next day and trying to hitchhike out would have been very unpleasant in the cold rain. Thank you so much again Jordan!
*2024-01-09 to 2024-01-13 / 5 days / Packrafting / SOBO / Rio Nef - Lago Nef - Glaciar Nef [Variant C + RP] - Lago Colonia - Rio Colonia [Exploration] - El Manzano [RP + Option 5 + Option 1 / Roman
