I had a good sleep and was ready for a big day of hiking and climbing. I was lucky to join up with two other girls (USA and Israel) headed to the same next refugio as me, so I would have some company for the day. Our first order of business was to get out of the Laguna Toncek valley to the next higher ridge at around 2000m. Nothing like a little straight uphill skree scramble for a warm-up first thing....
Once we got to the top of this peak, the trail led us around the pretty Laguna Schmoll with its snow-capped ridge.
At this point, we caught up to two other guys (Buenos Aires, ARG) who were also headed to Refugio Jacob. Since it looked like we had already passed the most stable part of the trail (not kidding), we figured a solid group was a good way to go- more people to cushion your tumble down the mountain (only kidding...a little). We picked and scrambled our way up the next ridge to bring us to Catedral´s altitude at 2405m (Cerro Catedral has two distinct peaks: a north and a south peak, but we were in the middle). We stopped to let our burning lungs and legs rest and to take in the stunning view of the whole valley below- the next leg of our trail.
Even better, from the other side of this ridge we had a bird´s eye view of the back side of the mighty Cerro Tronador in Pampa Linda off in the distance- our ultimate goal of this hike.
Unfortunately, the way down these ridges is pretty wild. Most of them are pretty sketchy skree scrambles in sharp shards of rock. I was glad to be in a group of people, so we could help pick our way across these crazy pitches. It´s really intense to get down these faces- you have to watch every step and make sure your feet are secure, or as secure as they can be here. The only thing I can relate it to, even slightly, is when Kelly and I tried to climb the wrong way down the Western Brook Pond waterfall in Gros Morne. Your better judgement is grumbling in the back of your mind, but you press on anyway...
The upside to the ridiculous climb down this face was the whole valley floor was stretched before us and we could see where we were headed the whole time. It probably took us 2hrs to make our way down, with the odd bum-slide, a slightly twisted ankle (one of the boys) and newly weighed down boots of gravel and sand.
Once safely down, we stopped for lunch and a little siesta. We made easy time along the valley and were soon back to another climb. At least here, we had a few switchbacks for relief (seems they´re not big on switchbacks here) but it was still really steep. By this point, we had been up and down ridges all day and although the hike had been challenging and incredible, we were ready to see the refugio! From the top of the ridge, we finally got our first glimpse of Refugio Jakob in the next valley, but still a long, long way down.
And to add to the challenge of tired legs, screaming feet and hot sun (I can only imagine how much fun this would be in full rain) the "trail" down was steep, really really steep and really really loose. The group started to thin out, so two of us decided to just keep going and get down. Finally at the refugio, we had a chance to sit down, enjoy some mate with the really sweet hosts and bask in what we had accomplished today. We were the only ones that had completed this section with full camping packs (some may argue us crazy), we worked really well together to be careful and safe (honest) and we had covered some serious ground. The sights had been incredible- seems the toughest trails always do give the best views- and I managed to stay pretty strong through the whole day. I went to bed really proud of how well we did and thankful for such a stellar day. This is the Argentine Andes!
No comments:
Post a Comment