17-Feb Refugio Frey to Refugio Jakob

I slept like a baby despite a windy and rainy night.  I awoke late to calm skies with ice on my tent and had to scramble to get ready.  I planned on meeting Alexis at 8:30 to start hiking.  Alexis opted for a night in the refugio; best I can figure, it´s a European thing, because I would not want to sleep inside in a dorm crammed with people.  I prefer the cool air and privacy.  We started hiking around 9:00.  Unbeknownst to us at the time, this would be our most physically demanding day.  It involved 6 hours of hiking with a heavy backpack.  Since I had opted for dinner at the refugio the night before, sadly my pack had not gotten any lighter.

The morning dawned free of wind as evidenced by the perfect reflection of the agujas de Frey in the lake



Refugio Frey

 The hike began with a 30 minute traverse around the lake followed by a climb of 250m to Laguna Shmoll and another 150m to the ridge line.

Feeling good after 9 hours of sleep



Clouds reflected in Laguna Schmoll, approximately 250m above Frey



Studying the route



With heavy pack



Slogging uphill on crappy rock ´(photo by Alexis )

From the ridge line, we descended insanely steep crappy rock and scree for 450m terminating in a shitty gully with more crappy rock.  I don´t know why they didn´t use switchbacks through the trees in the lower section, but Alexis pointed out that this way, they don´t have to do trail maintenance, they simply need to spray paint the red markers on the rock.  He is probably right.  After descending the gully, we ambled up the lush Valley Rucaco.  The next photo is of Alexis in the Valley Rucaco and you can see the steep slopes we descended in the center of the photo.  After a brief break at a cascade, we started gaining elevation again- another 400m.    

Alexis takes 5 after descending the improbably steep slopes in the center of this picture and hiking up valley

We hit the next ridge and our final destination, Laguna Jakob, came into view only it was down another 400m of steep scree and crappy rocks.  What a long day!


View down the steep hillside to our next destination- Refugio Jakob

 

And then there´s the steep downhill (photo by Alexis; out of sequence)


Upon reaching Laguna Jakob, I set up camp in the trees and took a long break with my feet dangling in the soothing, cool waters of the lake.  I signed up for another refugio dinner of soup, pasta with mushrooms, and canned pears for dessert.  My pack still wasn´t getting much lighter.