Climbing and trekking

  Bariloche, Argentina
Sunday, November 19, 2006

I returned to Bariloche to do some climbing and hiking near Refugio Frey, where I was the day before a left for Puerto Madryn. I planned to stay in the 1004 hostal again, as it had been a very good experience the last time, but even with calling to make a reservation the day before there was not a single bed available for me anymore. I then checked in into the Bolsa del deporte hostal, which was also very nice. I first planned to stay two nights as weather forcast wasnīt so good for the next days, but as I got up the next morning the weather was so nice I quickly got ready, bought food for a week and jumped on the bus to Villa catedral.


Walk towards refugio Frey

01 Ski lift to refugio Lynch

I didnīt go up the same way to the refugio as the last time, but took the alternative high route, via the ski lift. Taking the ski lift was also a good apportunity to get an idea of the ski area of Cerro Catedral. And it seems to be very nice, certainly worth to come back here some time in winter (summer in Belgium) as it is rather big, very cheap and with nice views over the lake, Bariloche and the surrounding mountains.

02 View from top of ski lift - Cerro Tronador

03 Me at refugio Lynch

04 Walking to refugio Frey

The hight route to refugio Frey is a very nice one, even nicer than the other one I took the week before. It is a bit more challenging though as there is still a lot of snow and as it passes some parts where people with vertigo rather not come. After 4 hours I reached the refugio, after spending most of the last hour knee deep into the snow and consequently with wet feet, but it was worth it!


Climbing at Frey

07 Climbing at Aguja Frey

I stayed for five nights and it was a great time. The first day Jay and I went to climb on the Aguja Frey, just next to the refugio. It s a 100m high rock, and we climbed a 3 pitch route, level 5+, which was good to get used to the climbing again. The fact that it was trad(itional) climbing and not sports climbing made not such a difference for me, the second climber. The only difference is that I had to take out the cams and nuts that Jay had put in and had to carry those up. (the difference between sports climbing and traditional climbing btw is that in sports climbing you climb walls where there are at 3 to 4 meter intervals fixed bolts (rings) attached to the wall, where you can put your rope through to be secured and in traditional climbing you need to put in removable gear like cams and nuts as there are no bolts. You can find a bit more info and pictures about trad gear on http://www.racksimulator.com/101_trad_gear.htm) Anyway, it was a nice climb, a great view from the top and I was ready for more!

09 Walking towards el abuelo

10 Climbing first pitch at el abuelo 6a+

12 El Abuelo seen from the lake

And more, much more, came the next day! Jay wanted to turn up the heat a little bit and we went to a peak with the name "el abuelo" (the grandfather), a bit further from the refugio. Three pitches again, but now 6a+, 6b, 6b+.

11 At the second relais of el Abuelo

As he (an I) was not sure I would be able to climb that he learned me how to Guimard up a rope, which is using a tool (a Guimard) to climb up a rope without climbing the rock. As the second climber you can do that, that s the advantage. The disadvantage though is that I had to carry the "pig", the backpack, with both our walking boots in it, some food, some watter, ... as we wouldnīt descend to the same side of the rock. In the end I didnīt need the Guimard, but I did fall once on the second pitch and twice on the third. It was a nice climb though, although a bit unconfortable at my first hanging trad relais (see picture at the right) after the second pitch, some 90 meters above the ground. At the top the view over the valley, the frozen lakes and the many peaks around us was fabulous. We didnīt stay long up there though as the wind was very cold and almost blowing us off the top.

Next day we planed to take it easy, first idea was even not to climb at all. But at 6pm we couldnīt hold ourselfs anymore and went to the aguja Frey for a "short" climb. It ended up being the hardest climb so far, as Jay tried a new route on the second pitch and couldnīt climb past a very hard passage comming out of a roof. A spectacular fall of about 7-8 meters and some smaller ones after that made him decide to leave some gear behind and turn back to the relais, from where we rapelled down. Only one pitch for me that day, a 6a, but I guess that was a good thing for my body.

The relative rest on day 3 didnīt result in very good climbing on day 4 though. Jay succeeded to get his gear he left the day before back and climb the hard passage on top rope after we had climbed an alternative route to the same relais point. I only climbed the first route and had a hard time on it, falling three times at a hard pass. So it was clear that the muscles needed some rest and the discision to go back down to Bariloche was made!


Life at refugio Frey

06 Refugio Frey

Before and after climbing sessions, the life at the refugio was nice as well. Lots of people walk up to the refugio to spend one night and walk down the next day. Met a lot of nice people, and even some Belgians. Beside the nice conversations, they also were very generous with there food. Most of them clearly brought too much food up and were very willing to share. Sometimes we even got more food offered than we could eat! After the people left in the morning and before the new ones arrived it was very tranquilo at the refugio and that was nice as well: reading, chatting with the climbers, watching the mountains, enjoying the sun (weather has been great!!),...


Back to Bariloche, via refugio Jakob

13 Condor on the way to refugio Jakob

15 Walking towards refugio Jakob

20 Refugio Jakob at the lake, in the snow

The way back to Bariloche I did via a trek to another refugio, refugio Jakob. A nice walk, but with lots of snow. I left early to be able to walk on the hard snow, but by midday, on the second ascent of the day snow was soft anyway and it was hard work to get to the top going knee deep (and sometimes even deeper) into the snow on every step. But again it was worth it, nice views, lots of birds (even a condor), variation in landscape (forest, snowfields, mountains, rocks,...), waterfalls,... and a beatifull, quiet refugio at a frozen lake, set in the middle of a valley to arrive to. Very few people (me and a German couple) there and a nice place to relax. The women running the refugio (Marisha) was very nice and lived there together with her 4 year old daughter Anathea, who clearly likes visitors a lot.

21 River crossing on the way down to Bariloche

The walk down, was a walk back to civilisation (shower, fresh food, internet,...) down the valley with the river nearby all the time, with a spectacular river crossing (see photo), most of the time under the trees or surrounded by bamboo (!! lots of bamboo, very strange) and again with nice views of the surrounding mountains. At the end of the trail there was a jeep waiting for us to bring us back to Bariloche, a nice service of the refugio as the last 10km which you normally would have to walk seem rather dull. Back in Bariloche I was happy to see that Jay had been succesfull in reserving a place for me in 1004 (he d gone straight down from Frey the day before) and even more when suddenly the Danish guys walked in, they had just arrived that same day as well!