trip report by site editor Rick McCharles
day 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | video | info page
After surviving day 3 I assumed day 4 would be a breeze. A stroll down to the lake.
No. ☹️
It’s very difficult and perhaps the most dangerous section of all.
It’s another early morning scramble to navigate along the far side of Laguna Negra. Some fixed ropes help on the downclimb.
Alone I was following the Lonely Planet route on my phone, increasingly distancing myself from all the day hikers heading a different direction up to a famed ridge lookout.
Very unsure, I changed heading and followed them up to a fantastic vista.
Tronador
Turns out there are at least 2 routes out of Laguna Negra. Almost nobody does the LP variation any more.
From the ridge it turned out I’d be the only one that day trying for Lopez hut and Bariloche. Everyone else decided to take the easy way down including the big guided hiking group.
I was feeling fit and healthy. The weather perfect. Again.
I had to go for it.
Next — what else — a scramble along another ridge.
The views were beautiful today. Prettiest yet.
I came to the long, painful scree descent to another green, boggy valley. I crawled under a scrub tree at the bottom just to get some shade.
The similarly long ascent is on large, loose, sharp frost shattered rock. Going up is dangerous. I met 2 Argentinians descending there. SUPER dangerous. The worst of many bad slopes.
It took me about 2 hours of steady climbing to finally gain the ridge. It wasn’t until this point that I was convinced I would make the Traverse. The lake looked very close.
This was my final pass. It’s all downhill from here.
How to descend? Both left and right looked possible, but neither was appealing.
Turns out the trail takes you directly over the top of the rocks blocking the route.
There’s Lopez hut way below. Hours below.
It’s all scrambling to get there.
This seasonal snow melt tarn is one of the water sources for the hut.
I was getting close to civilization, however.
Here’s a water catchment pond at the hut. Not looking potable.
I got bad vibes in every way from Lopez hut. It’s privately run. Avoid it if you can.
I had lunch. Then headed down a likely looking trail with an escort.
Turned out I’d chosen a disused path on the wrong side of the creek.
Once we crossed to the true right, I quickly found the main trail down.
It was about a 2 hour wait for the next bus to town.
Jumping off close to my hostel I ran into British friends who had just returned from a different hike. We enjoyed a big carne and red wine feast at a Parilla restaurant on the lake.
Celebration. 🍷
day 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | video | info page
Like this:
Like Loading...
