Monte San Lorenzo

I´ve completed yet another trek, this time a 30-35 miler of 3 nights. Vincent and I hopped on a twice weekly minibus and headed to a tiny farm house located about 25 miles southeast of Cochrane. This farm was located on a small spur off of the Caraterra Austral, meaning it was way out in the country side, far removed from everything. On the drive in you passed through lovely mountain valleys drained by the winding rio tranquillo. Most of the rivers and lakes in Patagonia are a stunning turqoise color (resulting from their glacial origins), and this river was no exception. The color of the water here often reminds me of the dyed water you see at miniature golf courses back home. Never did I think I would visit a land where most of the water is naturally this color.

The trek started right at the farm house, slowly traversing a broad valley untill you were well above the river and surrounding swampy cattle fields. Unfortunately, we didn´t follow this traverse from the start, making a wrong turn very near the beginning and staying closer to the river than out guidebook called for. As a result we had to cross 300-400 meters of sludge and other nastiness before we were able to climp steeply up to the proper track. My shoes are in quite a state of disrepair and general griminess after my past 7 weeks of trekking and this detour only worsened their condition. Once we got ourselves straightened out it was a relatively straight-forward 3 hours to a lovely farmhouse located in a valley looking out towards mountains with numerous hanging glaciers and their corresponding water falls. We camped in the shadow of the farmhouse, looking out at the aforementioned glaciers.

The next day we continued on to a different vally for about 6 miles, reaching a base camp for mountaineers hoping to summit the 3700 meter Chilean/Argentine border stratelling Monte San Lorenzo, Patagonia´s 3rd highest peak. This camp featured an immaculate shelter or refugio as they are called here. It was build five years ago in honor of a Swiss climber who died in 2000 attemping to climb San Lorenzo. Unlike most refugios I have come accross during my previous treks this one was well maintained and not smoke coated. A fireplace heated stove was probably the best feature. Vincent and I fed it continuously throughout the evening, providing more than enough heat to cook out pasta and keep a kettle at a constant simmer.
From the camp we completed a 2 hour return side trip up the base of a large glacier sliding down from Monte San Lorenzo. We also managed to scramble (somehwat dangerously) down to a strange natural glacier pool, maybe 300x200 feet in size, that was filled with hundreds of ice chunks that had calved into the water during the previous weeks and months.

On our final full day we returned to our glacier valley farmhouse and walked for two rather steeply uphill hours to the base of the numerous hanging glaciers. When you had climbed high enough you were rewarded with an amazing panorama of a bleak lake where all the glacier few falls had emptied into. We would have stayed longer, just taking it all in, but the winds up there were fierce, forcing us to eat our snacks behind a large boulder. That night at the farm house we purchased fresh eggs and two generous cuts of lamb. I fried up my lamb and it was quite a treat, not to mention a steal at 500 pesos (1 dollar) for a half pound of fresh farm raised free range lamb!!!

We walked the 10 miles back to the original farm this morning and caught our minivan back to Cochrance and my apple and pear tree filled campground. Amazingly we saw no other hikers the entire 4 days! The heavy tourist season is slowlying down now that we are getting towards the autumn months of April and May but still, it is hard to believe that someplace as truly beautiful as that is still so untouched and really unknown. I consider myself lucky.