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Published: April 3rd 2008
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On the way up
Weighed down by 25 kilo packs We eventually managed to catch the bus to take us to a ski resort town where we would catch a chairlift up to the ridge top and walk in to Cerro Cathederal, but it was pretty comic. To cut a potentially long story short, the bus we needed to catch leaves Bariloche every hour, but we did not realise that it alternates routes each hour, so that the stops will be different depending on which hour you take it. Once we realised this, we were about to leave the stop we had been waiting at for nearly two hours as the bus came along. Had we missed THAT one, we would have missed three buses in a row. As it was, we had only missed two. This is one of many examples of a small complexity that becomes bigger when you do not speak or understand the language.
Anyhow. We got on the bus and after that everything went without a hitch. There are two ways you can walk into Cerro Cathederal, Frey. You can walk up from the valley further down, or you can get a chairlift up to the ridge and walk along from there. We thought logically
Jono on the chairlift
with some teasers of rock behind that getting the chairlift up and simply walking along a ridge top would be the easiest way. WRONG. Later we met a guide climbing up there with a client. I asked him which way he chooses to walk in and he said. ¨The valley. Always the valley¨. Ah well, the benefit of hindsight.
Actually, I am glad we did not have the benefit of hindsight because if we had, we would have missed out on spectacular views. The walking was hard going with lot of boulder hopping and steep loose scree slopes, made harder with 25 to 30 kilo packs, but I am glad for the views. A lot of people walk along this ridge to the first lake and back again just as a day walk, and it would make a great day walk. It is hard to pack light though, when two ropes, a rack of climbing gear, camping gear and food all need to be included.
Once we got to the valley where the campground was, I was ready to pitch the tent in the first bit of flat land we saw, which was actually a bog, but I was convinced through my fatigue that
it was dry land. We managed to find ourselves a nice flat AND dry spot a bit further down the river though.
I had never been anywhere with such an alpine feel before, let alone climbed anywhere so adventurous and challenging. It was exciting but scary at the same time. Does excitement have to have an element of fear in it to make it exciting? Maybe it does. Philosophy aside though, it was scary. Routes were hard to find, hard to get to, hard to stay on and there was a lot of loose rock. I led a so called European grade 4 (maybe a 5.7 US or 15 or 16 Aus), which for non climbing readers should have been very easy, but I was taking falls and being totally scared. Maybe I went off route, which is very easy to do there. But there were some awesome and not so scary climbs too. Quality cracks. Spires of rock 150 meters of more high. Great views. Wild. The trip was definitely a reality check for me though. I need to get a lot stronger and a lot braver if we are going to do the 20 pitch route in
Did I really need to bring TWO pairs of pants?
Me wondering already how I could have made my pack lighter, and this is only 20 meters away from the chairlift. Cochamo valley that Jono and I have our eyes on.
We had one rainy day where we divided our time between the tent and the Refugio. Having the Refugio close by definitely made it pretty damn comfortable camping. You could buy beer, wine or pizza there, all of which we sampled. I was pretty appalled one day that we were there though, when their cat chased a bird from outside, into the Refugio, caught it behind my back, played with it for a bit then dragged it out to the doorstep and killed it. This is one of Argentina´s premier national parks and they let the Refugio caretakers have a cat. mmmm...
The other strange thing was the military presence. They were training, I guess, but it definitely took away from the wilderness paradise feel, plus they seemed to want to set up top ropes everywhere we wanted to be. But, it is not every day you get to peer down on the Argentinian army getting buck naked to swim in the river. Another once in a lifetime experience.
After five days or so of climbing, we walked out the other way, down the valley. No loose
scree slopes or boulders. Nice track all the way. Lighter packs. Life was good.
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Tot: 0.14s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 13; qc: 72; dbt: 0.0971s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
heather
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wowzers
butt naked Argentinian army guys... nice... :) sounds pretty amazing and pretty adventurous. Climbing is so brilliant that it can be a sissy weekend of bolt clipping 12m routes or a 25kg pack haul kinda gig. Love it! glad your loving it too! xxx