The Frey

I just wanted to put this on here as a terrific example of what can happen when you make friends with other travelers:

I arrived in Bariloche, found the hostel, cruised the city, the norm. I whipped up a pasta dish but of course I made absolutely WAY TOO MUCH! I am still learning my way around the kitchen. As I offer my bountiful meal around, the first 2 takers are 2 young guys. One is from Melbourne, Australia and the other is also a gap year kid from Connecticut! Small world, ehh? We got to talk and these guys are rockclimbers. I am of course interested and start looking through all there picutres of where they have been climbing for the last three weeks up north. Their shots are filled with towers of rock and beautiful horizon lines with peaks that look like sand drip castle.

When I press for some more details, I come to discover that up north really means a public bus ride and a 4 hour hike away!!! I am suppose to be leaving this night for a 28hour bus ride south. I flip a coin and it lands on heads. I have to go! I am definitely not a climber but it seemed like a gorgeous that I just couldn`t pass up the opportunity knowing that I was so close. Plus I can take the next bus, right?

The next morning I pack up my small pack and head up to the Frey Refuge named for the popular climbing peak it is snuggled up against. Since I was only going for the night, I was not carrying much weight and made it up in 3 hours. It is located in this thin valley on the side of a glacial-fed lake overlooking the principal peak in the area called The Main Bull at about 2400 meters. We are about 1700 meters up so it is very brisk. The refuge had a kitchen where for a high price could have a tasty meal cooked for you by the 1 staff member and a central room filled with tables and sweet climbing shots. The dorm has mattresses layed all over the floor and on a layer of wooden platforms to keep your stuff. Most people camp though. At the high season, there can be up to 100 tents surrounding this little diamond but during my time there was more like 20 people.

I quickly make friends with the chef and the 2 serious climbers that have been staying there for some time over a chess game. I was only planning on staying the night and returning down the mountain to Bariloche but I couldn`t leave just yet. The next morning I did a quick hike to lookout point. At the top, the wind is gusting very strongly and the rain has started to roll in. I quickly snap some pictures of the 3 Kings peaks, Cerro Catedral and the view of National Park Nahuel Huapi within which I am hiking.

When I got back, the climbers invite me to go rockclimbing! I had expressed interest in at least being able to watch them climb that afternoon. But with the strong wind and oncoming rain, their climb for the day was botched. Instead, they offered to teach me at a nearby spot called Escuelita. They had never done this climb because, well, they are just too good for it. The chef lent me her gear (rope, helmet, harness, shoes, etc.) and I was pumped! Pela, the Argentinian of the 2 climbers, took me out to the rock. He scaled it easily. It was cool watching him navigate his way up this face finding places to lock in the rope in different caribeaners and other climbing gadgets. Meanwhile, I am at the bottom as his safety thinking to myself, ”Can I really do this?”.

Escuelita got its name because although it is one of the easier climbs in the area, it has a variety of tecnical areas. Therefore, it is a good spot to practice the different tecniques. The thing is that I have no tecnique! This is not a rock wall you find in a gym with plastic hold sticking out. The rock is rough and you are trying to wedge yourself between opposite sides of crevasses to create resistant to climb. I also quickly had to learn how to remove of the equipment Pela had placed on his way up! There was one spot in particular I failed the first three attempts to pass. I needed to blindly get my foot around a protuding rock and onto a tiny knot belly button level. I bloodied my hand a bit when I just went for it and ended up swinging around until I bounced back to some flat rock to regain my climbing position. Th fourth and final attempt I got it though. I do not know how but I did and that felt good!

Unfortunately, I couldn`t complete it. The last two meters tests your crack climbing skills. You need to stick your arm as far into the crack and make a fist. Using this, you pull yourself up and try to wiggle as much of your foot into the narrow crack as possible. It was more than difficult and without experience nearly impossible for me. The plus: this meant I got to rapel down the 60 feet I had climbed up instead of walking down the back.

We returned to refuge in the dark to a warm fire. The chef had made an incredible meal for an elderly couple and had enough extra to make a plate. She gave it to Pela and me as a treat after my experience.

I feel so lucky to have been able to do this. I would never have been able to have a basically free one on one rockclimbing lesson with a professional in one of the best spots in Argentina unless I had met these incredible people. I really hope that I can make someone else`s trip more special like these guys did for me.