Argentina

November 6-29, 2009

November 17: Cerro Tronador

It had poured rain all night long and in the morning we were quite horrified to see how far the snow had come down on the mountains. Brrrrr! We had obviously made a good call in not going to do a long mountain hike today!

In the Nahuel Huapi National Park there were several long roads leading through the Andes westward towards or right to the Chilean border and today we decided to take one of these to Cerro Tronador and Cascada Los Alerces. We had been warned to make sure to arrive at the appropriate times as much of the roads today would be so narrow that they were one-ways, with directions varying depending on the time of day.

The drive, although harrowing at times, was beautiful. When the sun and blue skies came out the snow sparkled on the mountains. The waterfall was stunning and afterwards we enjoyed some yummy torta fritas at the refuge. When the time came for the road to become one-way back out we headed on to Cerro Tronador, passing the beautiful Pampa Linda on the way where most of the tour buses seemed to stop. However we pushed on towards the mountain and saw a giant ice field where pieces of glacier created interesting formations. Then we walked along to the base of Cerro Tronador which at this time of year was pretty deserted. There we experienced "Thunder Mountain" first hand as we witnessed several avalanches of snow and ice which truly thundered down the mountain.

the photos: