refugio frey

From lakes district patagonia

Ver villa catedral en un mapa más grande
when we got into bariloche 10 days ago, we figured out a great hike into the patagonia mountains outside of town. there´s a number of huts - refugios - spread throughout the nahuel huapi national park. these are on par with the huts in new zealand... typically running water, cook stoves, and a firery cast iron stove. wish the sierra club huts had these ammenities.´

started out at the local ski resort, catedral. no snow on the mountains yet, which is good for hiking but depressing for the start of ski season. this is the sign at the trailhead.

From lakes district patagonia

obvious enough, eh? unfortunately the rest of the trail wasn´t as well marked. about 200 meters after this sign, we ran into a construction site- new communities full of 2nd homes are being built in this area. the site had way too many dirt roads and footpaths leading out of it... we managed to pick a loser. after an hour of navigating our way through streams and thickets heading towards what we thought was the direction we needed to go, we got back on the primary trail. the views were great.

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

hiked up a valley towards refugio frey. found another refugio on the way... pretty rugged little sucker.

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

got there late in the day and found a little piece of paradise.

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

the bano

From lakes district patagonia

there were 2 young guys working there for the winter. its a cold, solitary life... we were the only folks they had seen for the last few days. they were climbers who seemed to be well suited for the work. especially because they loved ice skating. "vamos a patinar!" they would say every morning and every night, and they`d work on their spins and single footed skating... not your typical mountain man activity.

skating on a frozen pond was pretty awesome though. here are some shots from the lake.

From lakes district patagonia

the view from the breakfast table the next morning. thats cerro catedral and a few surrounding peaks... evil wicked looking peaks.

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

cerro catedral at sunset

From lakes district patagonia

took a hike up the catedral range (a trail off to the right... easier than it looks).

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

looking down the valley toward lake toncheck... frey is out of sight to the left.

From lakes district patagonia

found another frozen lake up at the next plateau... lake schmoll. we heard constant cracking of the ice, a disconcerting sound even if your feet are firmly planted on rock.

From lakes district patagonia

i climbed up higher over the saddle and found la cancha de futbol.

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

peaked a little further and found the valley running west towards refugio jakob and monte tronador, a 3000m peak.

From lakes district patagonia

and the view north to the back of the ski slopes and onto lake nahuel huapi.

From lakes district patagonia

refugio frey even had micro brew stout. i love frey.

From lakes district patagonia

after the hike we were tired, and giddy. here´s laura loving her stripes and me really tired.

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia