The Refugio & the Hunt for Nevados

On August 29th, Tom, Ellen, Mark, and I headed up to the Refugio (re-foo-ee-hoe) near the end of Tres Maries ski run so we could cut down on the time to summit Nevados from 5-6 hours to only around 3 hours and hopefully make a third and final attempt to finally summit Nevados.

The Refugio, a building located in the mountains intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineers, climbers and hikers; is about a 2 hour hike up and lookers-left of the Tres Maries ski run at Nevados de Chillan that follows parts of the snow mobile and snow cat tracks.


This particular Refugio is very primitive but includes the things most needed to live up there for the night like an old oven that is used as a wood burning stove, enough firewood to last you a winter, toilets (that exit to nowhere), pots and utensils, a random assortment of nonperishable foods left from past visitors, and an unknown quantity of rats.

Left side.

Right side.

So in our 65 liter packs we only need to haul up perishable foods, clean utensils that aren't most likely covered in rat feces and hantavirus, a pot, lighter and our snowboard gear. It still creates a fairly heavy pack to haul up but isn't so bad for only a one night plan.

The day we strolled in after hitch hiking a ride to the mountain was a very relaxed one, drinking wine, playing cards and dice, to wait to eat a dinner an watch the sunset behind the deep, heavy peaks of the Andes.

Volcan Nuevo and Viejo in the distance.

Before the sun fully set though, around 3:30pm, we decided to take our time and hike up past the Refugio to see the route that we would take the next morning to reach the Nevados summit. An hour and a half in, we knew our route from afar and had a good idea of how long it would take. We joked that we should just make the push then and just go for it, beause who knows about tomorrow. With the sun slowly setting we transitioned our boards over from hike-mode to ride-mode, we sunk into the snow, and felt the perfect corn snow that we were hoping for. It's certainly spring in the Andes. The sunset was a nice finish to a mellow hike to find our route up Nevados for the next day.

Hanging out at the Refugio at night, playing dice, you can hear the rats come out of the cracks in the floor and scurrying around looking for dropped scraps of food and taking advantage of the warmth coming off our fire from the makeshift wood stove. This being the second time here, just seems normal now.

The nights are cold up there. There are few windows with glass in them, holes in the walls and ceilings, and the fire only really keeps the small diameter around it warm. Sleeping at night means ignoring the increasingly strong winds that come through the house throughout the night, the doors that open and slam close, and the rats that are louder than ever when everyone isn't talking. Scoring a cot is important for a good sleep and if you miss out on that you should consider sleeping on one of the tables because sleeping on the ground for the rat reason is a better idea.

Waking up at 7:30am to a warm cot and a howling wind, I didn't want to move too far. Luckily, it wasn't too cold this time around so throwing on my snow pants wasn't too rough. Also, luckily, Tom was up before me and had gotten a fire started to feed the coffee addiction. It didn't hurt too, that we got woken up by a beautiful sunrise that came through the window facing Volcan Nuevo and Viejo.

Volcan Nuevo and Viejo with a beautiful, alpen glow sunrise.

We decided on the early wake up so we could hike the skin track while it was that icy/corn mix while the ski down would turn into corn snow after the 3-4 hour hike, and with the sun and 40 degree temperatures baking it.

Hiking for only 35 minutes we hit the ridge where we stopped before, making great time. Mark was the first to reach the top of the nole, and you could tell that he knew something, with his 5 year old being disappointed posture, that the crew behind him didn't know. It wasn't until I was standing next to him that I felt the wind screaming at us with what I would think would be a constant, violent 60 mph rate. Funny too, because just below that ridge there was no wind at all and it we weren't high in elevation yet. We could barely stand on the nole without being blown all around.

Tom and Ellen dealing with the wind.

Because of this, we had unfortunately for the third time, bail on the idea of summitting Nevados. While transitioning our boards over, all I could do was laugh at how ridiculous it is how much the wind controls our efforts as much as it does here in the Andes. I looked over at Mark and said, "I don't think we're ever supposed to ever summit."

In a laughing tone Mark responds, "I'm going to get it. I have no idea when, but it'll happen!"

Dropping back down slope, following our skin track, we headed back to the Refugio and started drinking the last bit of wine that we have left in our box...at 9:30am.

Other Photos to Note: