Cambios

Last year we wondered if one can avoid roadwalking on GPT 14 and GPT15 by traversing Sollipulli (not the glacier) and it turns out it can be done and is quite a spectacular option (probably a lot more attractive then RR and when done right, not with too many people). The idea is, SOBO, to follow the rim of Sollipulli for about 4 km, then go to Laguna Cochor (14-01B), then to Laguna Isolda, Termas Rio Blanco and NP Huerquehue (15-01) and then Villarica Traverse (16-04). If you hitch (should be easy) or take a bus between the end of 15-01 and beginning of 16-04 through Pucon, you will get quite a nice trail without much roadwalking. See our notes to GPT15 and GPT16 for the rest of this option, here follows the Solipulli bit[November 2024: it is in our suggestions in the Track files].

Note: to do a one way traverse of Sollipulli, either walk through the CONAF station before about 8 AM or after about 7 PM when the guards should no longer be there or walk past it for qbout about 1 km on the road and take a right at 38.9238605S, 71.4873252W where there is an OSM trail based on Strava heatmap; however that trail needs to be confirmed, but it is almost for certain there.

We took a bus from Temuco to Cunco, they go every half an hour and cost a few thousand pesos. There are many terminals, the company you look for is Nar Bus, find its terminal in google maps to save yourself 1 km of going to the rural bus terminal and back. The ride takes cca 80 minutes. From Cunco, there is a daily bus to Laguna Caburga that leaves everyday at 17:00. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, it should go all the way to Termas Rio Blanco (it probably goes back in the morning, do not remember time schedule but we just saw a bus in the morning in the direction of Cunco). In Cunco we missed that bus and had to hitch. It was very easy at the beginning to get to Lago Colico but after that it became extremely difficult all the way to the start of the hike. We had to sleep in the forest by the road that night because no cars were stopping. In the morning, we got a hitch of 3 km and then we walked a few more to the western end of Laguna Caburga. We bought some bread and chips there, waited for four hours for a hitch and killed about twenty horseflies. None of the 15 cars that passed took us. We then walked to the other end of the lake, where we got a hitch to the junction with access to Thermas Rio Blanco. From there, we walked to the start/end of GPT14 option 1B. It took us about 26 hours from Cunco.

The next day, we hid our tent and set off to reach the south summit of Sollipulli and then to the northern summit via the ridge (or below the ridge). It was an extremely long day trip (~16hrs out and back) but it should not be a problem if doing a proper traverse, many camping options. If one does not want to camp at Laguna Cochor, first good place is right above the treeline where the TR section ends and CC section begins. A nicer place would be cca 1 km further on, where you traverse to a nice valley. The first cca 2 km of CC are actually more TR&CC, the trail comes and goes and follows the contour line, which is to be recommended. In the valley, there was a stream that can still be jumped in one place or could be easily forded. With less snow, it would probably be jumpable almost everywhere. The way to the summit is uneventful and a bit of a slog. No scrambling is needed (there is just one small rock obstacle, but one can walk through). Above around 1900 m., there was a lot of snow. If going early in the season, check the map where glaciers are and do not walk on them - you do not need to, they are fairly small. From the summit, we looked for several ways to go down and then retraced a bit and actually crossed what on a map is marked as a glacier here: 38.9963315S, 71.5233126W. Judging from satellite photos and our own survey, we think the western part of the glacier has melted and we walked over a snowfield to a soft ridge with a small tarn at the end of it. Getting down from this ridge sharply down a f left towards a plateau -like valley may or may not be difficult if there is "no" snow. We found a good way down on moderate snow slopes but considering the snow there is still almost 10-15m very deep we do not know what the rock would be like, most likely it should be fine without snow. Here Natalie went back as it was already 1500, but Tomáš pressed on. He went across the valley and up the side of the next ridge at roughly 2000 m (there are two places that are not rocky, this one was the lower one, it was steep but fairly easy walking through loose stones and scree), then he went roughly half the way up the ridge, traversed above the two lakes on the way, the then got to the rim and walked the ridge, then he got down to the other two lakes on the map and walked up to the summit.

As for Sollipulli it has been the easiest summit so far, there is superb trail and it took ~2hrs up más o menos. There is one intersection where the trail tells you to go right but the climbers trail goes straight and is quicker ( staying left is more quick;: -38.93399, -71.49659).The glacier is amazing, 4km in diameter and supposedly 200m deep. I would come back here with glacier gear to cross it and go down the south summit. However Tomáš has his eyes on a way to go around the crater without glacier gear, so it would be a mixture of walking the rim and traversing above treeline towards the south summit where there should be another trail. That would save one cca 20 km of road walking[Nov 2024: this has been proven, see above].

We wanted to go up the main route and down option 01 but CONAF still requests you come down the same way and since they helped us with camping I wanted to respect their wishes. If you wanted to avoid the rangers we both think you could easily go up before or after they arrive, we saw a few other parties doing this[they live somewhere else, this is just a day station]. Note that there is no water after CONAF, if you were doing the traverse , there are some lakes down to the east from the North summit. We think the traverse looks easy until the treeline. From the other end we later passed the trail going up which is in fact a road - not sure how far it goes as a road.

The summit was quick , so afterwards we started walking the road that skirts Sollipulli on its east. It was a peaceful road and I have no complaints until it became not fun anymore after the camping at ~46.9. There were two vehicles that passed (no room) but I have no idea how they drove past some of the downed trees, would be a dodgy ride.The forests here are finally becoming alive! We saw tarantulas and a giant moth carcass and mushrooms finally! There are many fords at the beginning after the lodge so keep sandals on if you have them. It would be worth looking at Google earth Earth for an alternative trail because we met a guided horse group on gpt15 GPt15 that told us they went from the south summit of Sollipulli to the lodge without going on the road. It is possible they meant "no road" as in "no asphalt road" but who knows.