Cambios

Overall: A majestic picturesque and adventurous section. One of the most more remote ones that we have doneon the GPT, with lots of fun CC over different varied terrains (river bed, boulder slopes, glacier) and trails which are not very hard to follow (as long as you don’t lose them).

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/out of 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 below 5deg or less during the day. The rain made the ups and downs more difficult and time consuming. Nevertheless , 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 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.

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 Traction should be no issue better when dry. This is where After this, 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 as it looked slippery when wet but to instead went go 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 the CC traverse. We followed the GPS route to -47.20933, -73.24858 where we camped.

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 areashoreline. Proceed We timed our jumps out of the packraft so 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 is a few more rapids 4th small rapid and haystacks(probably due to days of rain), 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 keep your eyes peeled the entire first 5km of Rio Colonia. Frequent ground contact.