Frey, revisited
Trip Start
Aug 31, 2006
1
38
79
Trip End
Aug 15, 2007
Bariloche,
Argentina
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
The birthday
But first came my birthday, which I celebrated down in Bariloche. As a coincidence there was a wine, chocolate and chees tasting night at the hostal the night before my birthday. A good ocasion to celebrate my last birthday as a young guy. It was a nice night, with good and a bit too much wine, dancing and even a birthday song at midnight followed by a short but enlighted speech.
Next day, actual birthday, I walked up to the refugio together with Kenneth. Up there we cracked the bottles of champagne we had carried up, together with some other climbers and enjoyed a nice cheese fondu.
03 Jay´s tent, our home for one night
That night we slept in Jay's tent as he was only to arrive the next day, and for the first time I could experience what the hard patagonian wind can do to people in a tent: keeping them up by the noice it makes and making them affraid the tent will blow away. And in Jay's rather special tent (amongst climbers known as "the circus") this experience is even more intense. Next morning Kenneth continued his trek, and for me another week of climbing started.Climbing the classics
The first was a short but hard one, on aguja Frey, the spire just next to the refugio. It started with "los museos" (6a+), from which I fell 3 times the week before. The resting days had done me good though as I climbed it without falling. The second pitch was "lost fingers", a 6b going via a crack, over a roof, without almost anything to put your feet. A nice climb, but I had to pull from a cam once to be able to do it. It was my first climb with Pau, and I clearly past the test, as we went to climb the lunar rocket (cohete lunar) the next day.
06 Looking for the route
That spire is in the next valley and it takes more than an hour to get there, mostly through the snow. Arrived at the spire we had a hard time finding the route, walked up and down through dense vegetation a couple of times, but finaly found "objetivo luna" (destination moon), a real classic in Frey. It is a 120 meter route, composed of seven pitches : 6a, 6a+, 4, 5, 5, 6b and 5.
10 Me at the first pitch II
The first pitch was a very nice one, following a crack, from which you had to hang almost all the time, moving your feet up using frixion. Completely my style, I enjoyed it a lot! Next was a bit more face climbing, lots of balance work and maybe even nicer. Certainly when a couple of condors came to give us some company. It was a fabulous sight seeing those giant birds fly at some 3 meters from us. At a certain time they came so close that I even got the impression they would maybe attack us. No photo´s of that though, as I was in the middle of a 6a+ climb at the time.
15 Me at pitch 6
Next three pitches were easy but nice, and the only way to get to the 6b leading to the top. This one started with a lot of balance work, followed by a big roof where it was clear that I still lack some strenght (and maybe also still carry a bit too much weight). I got past it though, being it in 3 tries. The rest was a beautifull, balancy climb, with great views of the valley.
18 Rappeling down the rocket
End of the route was a 5+ pitch, leading to the top of the rocket, from where the view
19 Refugio Frey
was even better. Descending was via a nice 30 meter rappel and some technical downclimbing. After the long walk back, spiced with some philosophical discussions, we arrived at the refugio rather late, but feeling great!
26 Second pitch continued
Next day I climbed with Jay again. We decided to go to "La vieja" and just as we were leaving a woman from Bariloche arrived to the refugio and seemed to be interested in doing some climbing as well. So she came along, and was nice company for the day. She is actualy a mountain guide, working most summers in Mendoza, guiding groups to the top of the Aconcagua (highest mountain of South-America). After another long approach we climbed the balancy, two pitch, 80m route without problems, enjoying it a lot again!
41 Jay at the top
The last climb of the week was a super classic, the normal route on El Principal, the highest peak of the valley. It s a long walk up towards the base of this spire, mostly through snow, hard, but it already gave us ideas about how to get back down. The climb then, was not that hard, with only the last, fifth pitch being 6a, but oh so beautifull. The views while climbing and belaying are stunning, as you are at the highest point of the valley you get a view of everything. We saw Tronador and Puntiagudo, two volcanos I had
46 At the top, ready to rappel down
seen in Chile during the Lago todos los santos cruce, another volcano towards the north, I think it was Villarica, near Pucon and of course, lot s of lakes, as we were in the lake district. Unbelievably beautifull!! And getting higher and higher it only got better. The climbing was nice, the weather too and than... at the top... 360º of magnificent views! 
47 Sliding down
Going back to the refugio was a lot easier and more fun, as we slid down, freezing our ass but speeding down. And with that event, this second week of climbing came to an end. Another fantastic week and giving me the intention to come back here later during this travel. Maybe in January, as I already booked hostal 1004 for New Year. After that I want to do a 9 days trekking into chile, via the pas de los nubes, but as it passes Frey, I might as well stay there for another "few" days... 
