Frey-Jacob

"Of course I'm crazy, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong."
~Robert Anton Wilson quotes

Tuesday, December 30th 2008 to Thursday, January 1st 2009

The path was pure madness. Insane drops going down hundreds of meters of loose scree and huge rocks. The heavy backpack, riding high for more comfort, didn't help my balance as I sled down the sandy slopes (it was much more sliding than walking since the ground could not hold the combined weight of myself and the pack...). It was the first time that I honestly preferred going uphill than down since the steep decline hurt my feet and knees and it's not like that the ascents or even the straight parts were any better. The mountains were so rugged that you found yourself rock hopping all the time traversing and climbing huge rocks with your hands and knees being careful not to fall down the almost vertical mountain face to your right or left. The views were great though, at least in the moments that I took a breather or risked it and let my eyes scan the horizon instead of concentrating on the path ahead. And than after two days, the madness just stopped. The rugged mountain trail was replaced with a wide route running alongside a river in a lush green valley that took us back to main road in a few hours and back to Bariloche - just a few kilometers away the hard mountains were replaced by green hills and blue lakes, looking from below I could not see the path that I followed for two days...

The madness was a variation of the Frey-Jacob trek known as Lynch-Frey-Jacob since the Frey refugio is accessed from above through refugio Lynch instead of the typical access from the parking lot of the ski resort down below. Like in Pucon, my partners for the walk were Harel & Gili, by this time the three of us has become quite a team. It started quite easy with a cable card ride to the Lynch refugio where we traversed a small saddle and ate a quick lunch at a beautiful though windy viewpoint with the mountains around us and the lakes far below. shortly after the trail turned into the insane route described above. It took us almost 2 hour to cover the 4 km to the "Cancha de Futbol" another saddle where we took a left and headed down a very steep path to our campsite near the lagoon & refugio Frey. It was still quite early when we got there and after dinner I decided to climb up one of the local rock climber paths that are used to access Cerro Torre. While usually used by climbers, the path didn't require any special equipment or skills to reach the summit and enjoy the view, although, admittedly, the best views were from the beginning of the trail less than 15 minutes from our tent...

On the second day we left the small canyon through the same way we came in, climbing back to the "Cancha de Futbol", a climb that was easier and took less time than the decent we had a day before. Unfortunately after a short rest at the mirador at the top, the trail started descending very steeply to the valley below down a loose scree mountainside with very little footing. It took more than 2 hours to reach the riverbed below where the trail became flat again as it entered the wood. We had our lunch near a waterfall and continued up the trail that quickly got steeper and wilder again taking us to the top of a rocky pass. The descend down the other side was even wilder than the one before, but it compensated for it with better views of the Jacob lagoon and surrounding snowy mountains. After getting to the bottom we crossed a fast flowing river and a short walk through the wetland later we found ourselves at the campsite of refugio Jacob. It was already getting dark by the time we finished setting up our tents and ate our hot dinner but as the sun set the sky were colored in red and crimson making a superb backdrop to our new year's eve outdoors. The last day with a light backpack and an easy path we felt like walking and covered the 17km back to the road in less than 4 hours. Catching a lucky hitch and a bus we were able to get to Bariloche in time for a good steak dinner...