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==Season 2024/25==
* '''2024-03-13 to 2024-03-22 / 10 days / Hiking / SOBO / New High route Option "Glacier Universidad+Tinguirica/ Natalie & Tomáš'''
See Highlights and warnings and photos on the Facebook post:
Route details:
Section 01: Road from Coya to Lago Pejerrejes
We weren't even out of Coya yet before we got a hitch. We were extremely lucky, without even trying our driver changed his plans and drove us all the way to Rio Cortedral, just past the Carabinero's house. If you do have to walk this route, note that there is no water until the Carabineros. The Carabineros did not come out which is good because last time I was in this area they stopped me and did not allow me to make a traverse, I was forced to come back the same way- then again I didn't try too hard to convince them. But it's a warning that they can make you come back. Rio Cortedral is popular for fishing and has many car camping sites. So with that, and the Puma Lodge and the hydro site, I don't think the term "it will take a hitchhiking miracle" from wikiexplora is correct, it isn’t that hard to get a hitch. The walking up to Lago Pejerrejes was very fast, mainly on a MR closed to cars by hydro gates, -34.38279, -70.32093. The MR disappears off and on just before the lake because of the landslide in 2017 but there is still a trail. Look for cairns just before a ditch. We made camp in a small corner before the lake.
Section 02: Lago Pejerrejes to Lago Cortedral
When trip planning I was unsure if it was possible to walk around the lake but luckily in March water levels were low and we were able to make it. We went around the left side (North) of the lake to avoid two extra fords. It involved some boulder hopping and there was a cliff at the end that forced you to make a small ford. We think that even if water levels were roughly 1m higher this would still be okay (the cliff part is questionable), but 2m higher would be difficult. The right side of the lake looked like easier walking as long as the two fords were doable (In mid March they looked easy). At the end of the lake there is a long stretch of river flats where the river is very braided. In the beginning it is easy to walk through the divides but near the end the current is stronger so best to stick close to the left. We had lunch at the end of the river flats in the shade of a small boulder. From here we stayed on the left-hand side of the river until needing to ford here, -34.55496, -70.21173 just before the left side gets too steep. This was decided based on satellite imagery that showed an old MR and lots of cow trails on the left. However, having said that, I don't think the right side is impossible, if in earlier months a ford is not possible, there are still some cow trails.
Anyways, if you stay to the left as we did there was a very old MR for a bit which eventually turned into one dominant trail most of the way. It was easy to loose but luckily if you lost it there were usually many other cow trails leading in the direction you want. Also there was water every 3-5km. Near the beginning, you mustn't miss the apple tree! -34.50068, -70.23678. Never have I had such good wild apples in Chile. They were baseball size and ripe! Continuing on the left side of the river, the only main annoyance was a deep ravine, -34.53944, -70.21944. Before getting here we saw a good trail that went down to the river but didn't take it- we should have. Therefore, before reaching this ravine, get down to the river when you can, there were cow trails along the river side.
You eventually hit the second of the river flats where the planned ford is. Unfortunately the river is not as braided as expected. At the end of the day there is only one spot in which it is dividend into two. You could possibly ford at the beginning of this section because it is flatter than higher up but we went further to where the one divide is. To get there we had to go up and side-hill the river bank for a bit and then ford a two branch red stream. In the evening the river was too strong to cross so we waited for the morning.
In the morning the current was still very strong. I only managed to find one place to cross. It was the end of a two split divide, I was able to walk along the end of the split where the water was more shallow just before it hit the main current again -34.55496, -70.21173. It was strong but the ice cold water may have been the hardest part. After crossing and climbing up the obvious hill on the right there is another dominant trail which you can take all the way to the stone house -34.59599, -70.23499. Easy to loose but easy to find again. Along the way there is a nice creek crossing, -34.57832, -70.22596. The stone house is under a massive boulder you can see from far away, it is very interesting and a very good shelter, lots of neat rocks in the area. After the stone house the trail exist for a very short time and then it is CC on rocks through a moraine/flood valley underneath Paloma. I chose to go up to these lakes -34.61312, -70.24377 and then cut back down to the river, not sure if walking along the river is easier or not. The next objective was to cross the convergence of the Lago Cortedral stream and the larger stream from the glacier. The fords were easy (first one here -34.63766, -70.25730) and then we stuck to the right side of the Lago Cortedral stream keeping our sandals on for the many micro fords. Eventually the micro fords end and you can walk normally up the rest of the boulder made hill. At the top of the main hill the route to Lago Cortedral goes right but we chose to continue straight up towards the other nameless lakes bcs Google earth said there were hot springs. We did not find any in the labelled location so we retreated to the first lake to camp -34.65144, -70.25254. There was little wind here on a rather windy day.
Section 03; Lago Cortedral to Glacier Universidad
I needed a longer rest in the morning so from camp Tomáš went back up to look for the mystery hotsprings (don't exist) and I went back down to Lago Cortedral to avoid gaining unwanted elevation. The drainage on Lago Cortedral is easy to hop over if you want (low water levels) and there is a bivy camp on the west side -34.65680, -70.26256. The map made it look like you cannot walk along Lago Cortedral but with low water you can, it just involves moderately steep boulder hopping. Take the east side, not the west side. If you have high lake levels it would be best to walk up and along the hills on the east side. I met Tomáš on the other side of the lake and made a plan for the pass. Originally we had two options for the pass. Option A (we didn't do) is here; -34.66929, -70.28846. It would involve gaining the left hills to the east of the lake and making a big C curve to avoid super steep terrain. In real life it did not look good so we went with Option B; -34.66483, -70.29063. Option B is less steep but it leads you to a recently melted glacier on the other side (aka terrible rock). Going up this option was easy. It was a series of three moderate slopes, all just involved walking on stones/boulder's. The last water source is at the beginning of the first slope, -34.66176, -70.27682. There is also a glacier lake somewhere between the first and the second slope that could perhaps serve as a high camp (off route, seen on satellite). Remember to veer left after the second slope towards the third slope to gain the correct pass. The other side of the pass is far worse. It took us three hours to make a final decision to go down it, luckily we had no wind this day. Tomáš went down the steep scree/dirt here;___. And I went down the human Jenga pile of boulders further west, it felt like Russian roulette. Tomáš's way was more logical and he was able to create good foot steps (a small patch of ice made it a bit harder). My way was more risky but it "felt" better, it just took a few times to figure out where the solid rock was but the overhead hazard was horrendous. Some of the boulders were couch sized and only barely balancing on one other rock. Snow would make this impossible without an ice axe. ***I don't recommend doing this if you are uncomfortable/inexperienced with the risk of loose boulders and or steep scree/dirt. Once down the steepest 15-20m the feeling of Russian roulette was over but the terrain was still awful. The rock continued to be very loose, it took a long time to cover a short distance. However after that the going was easy towards the next lake. There is a moraine before the lake that is steep on the other side, we went to the far right (north) of this moraine and it was walkable. We slept by the nameless lake on flat sand and large boulders nearby.
The next day we headed to Glacier Universidad (UN). You can boulder hop on either side of the lake, both ways looked similarly slow. At the end of the lake you can climb up to your right if you wish for a nice view of the glacier, there is a beautiful tarn and some nice camping spots -34.68159, -70.31833. It also looks like you could continue going up from here to a summit, something for future adventures. From this vantage, it also looks like our alternative way down through the lakes of the sierra negra valley could be possible via this pass -34.69715, -70.31060, but it would be a lot steeper than what we previously did (this is the alternative that would avoid the glacier). Anyways, continuing down boulders from the lake to the skinny lake below is easy if you stay to the far left of the creek. The skinny lake below is a beautiful haven, but the moraine bordering it is hell. Trying to get down the other side of the moraine looked like a death trap, but luckily there was an opening on the far south side of the skinny lake, -34.69269, -70.32418. This opening is loose and dirty but it didn't feel dangerous, just slow, and it brought us down to the glacier ice. There is one more small moraine to cross before GU proper but it was easy. Hopping on to GU just involved finding the right place, which may change every year. Once on GU the walking was easy, no crampons needed as in mid day it was very crunchy. There are many deep waterholes and at least one fairly large crevasse, but the slope is minimal and everything was easy to see and avoid but this can easily change as this glacier is melting fast. Note***technically you are supposed to have permission from, info@glaciaresdecolchagua.cl,but we didn't see anybody. The end of the glacier was more of a puzzle than expected. We side hilled the brown slope on the right (rocks over ice, but still firm) until a left finger that led us down to the main glacial stream which we crossed to stay on the left-hand side. From then on it was a maze through glacial debris hills and ice walls for a few hundred meters. I am sure the route changes a bit every year so you will have to find your way. Finally we exited and knew for sure we did not have to go back - yay! The last 2-3km towards the road is flat and easy. There may have been a trail at one time, as sometimes it feels there is a reminisce of one, but it is mostly CC. There is an old yellow puesto/refugio near the entrance of the sierra negra valley that has been hit by a massive boulder, quite an interesting site but I hope nobody was in there!! From the road/dam/bridge we walked down ~5km to the bottom of the zig zags to camp near the main hydro building with a stream besides it.
Originally we had planned to try and go up the valley of San Hilario and cross over to the Rio del Azufre valley but the pass and valley itself looked uncomfortably steep. I saw animal trails to the pass on satellite but after seeing the hill in real life I assumed it must have been guanaco trails, not always suitable for humans with backpacks, but maybe it's possible?
Section 04; Los Maitenes (Hydroplant road) to Base of Tinguirica
Since our original plan of going up San Hilario valley was a no go we decided to go for Tinguirica and Termas del Flaco via the valley of Arroyo Fray Carlos. The ~12km of road down to the Arr. Fray Carlos from camp was fast but hot and unpleasant. We saw 7trucks and one machine going up between 9-11am but we only had one truck going down, which gave us a hitch for ~2-3km. Supposedly 20-40people work at that hydro station so if your timing is better than ours, a hitch shouldn't be hard. We took the spur road on the left just after the bridge over Rio de Azufre and rested by the Arroyo before starting the hot climb. There is a wooden gate that marks the start of our route ___. There were many animal trails but we just went straight up (bring water). We met the proper trail here -34.80209, -70.46644 , it takes you to this slope -34.80241, -70.46049 but then it becomes difficult to follow. It became obvious again where it goes along side the river -34.81444, -70.44820. I was feeling very ill so we stopped at a nice place to access the river and potentially camp -34.81570, -70.44709. We saw Arrieros crossing trails high up on the other side of the river, they must of been taking this exit point -34.80631, -70.46378. In the evening we walked a little further to the point in which you want to cross the river -34.82272, -70.43865 and camped.
It was easy to find the main trail on the other side of the river and walk it until meeting it again near a puesto -34.83423, -70.42198. This is what I call the "trifecta of valley's". It is where the Arroyo Fray Carlos meets Arroyo de las Humos and to some extent Estero los banos. We crossed Los Humos near the puesto and then Est. Los Banos and headed up the Banos valley in search of hot springs. There was a good trail up, it started on the right and quickly crossed to the left and stayed left almost all the way until crossing once more near the waterfall which the hotsprings are -34.84819, -70.40818. After a surprisingly nice dip, despite mid day heat, we chose to continue our route towards Tinguirica by going straight up from the hot springs. When we hit the large sheep pasture above the hotsprings, we chose to continue straight (East) and into the valley just left (North) of the Est. Los Banos and follow it until meeting Los Banos again. Another option from the sheep pasture would be to go high along the left side and meet Los Banos further up, I think that may have been faster but less scenic. For our way, from the meeting of the Est. Banos we then followed it until a high plateau under Volcano Los Carlos -34.85633, -70.38076. We camped there and enjoyed an early evening in preparation for Tinguirica. (Lots of water throughout this day).
Section 05; Tinguirica to Termas del Flaco
It seems the closer to the ends of those times the more relaxed the control is, we got a hitch out at 1:30ish. Buses "to" San Fernando go every day; Mon-Sat @ 7am, and Sundays @2:30pm.
* '''2024-JAN-8 to 2024-JAN-11 / 4 days / Hiking / SOBO / RR + Hiking Option 3, 6, & 6A / Elijah & Michael'''
