A 2-day trip to Monte Tronador

Monte Tronador on day time
see all photos »

In the afternoon, we begin to hike from Pampa Linda at the bottom of Monte Tronador.  It´s another sunny day. We do not meet any other tourists during the hike except a French and German couple.

Sometimes we hear ice breaking off from glaciers around Monte Tronador (3554m, the Andean crest) Tronador, means thunder in Spanish. Glaciers can be found around the whole mountain, making the ice-breaking activities, and hence "thunder", often.

The pilot says we may be able to take the helicopter

The peak of Monte Tronador is shined by the first sunray
see all photos »

It's a bit hard to climb up the middle part of the trek, which is a pretty steep zip-zap path in the forest. Afterwards, the slope becomes more gentle. We enter an area of bushes displaying  red, orange, yellow and green color. Some trees grow leaves with different color at the same time. The hill is blanketed with such colorful trees, making it pretty. We can't help praising the beautiful scene.

We see two glaciers on the opposite mountains and waterfalls in the front of the glaciers. Sometimes, "thunders" come from this direction.

Argentian soldiers are on move.
see all photos »

We keep going up and get close to the snow line, but do not see any refugio where we plan to stay. If we do not find one, it would be a big trouble to us. We carry no tent but sleeping bags only. At 6:45pm, when the night begins to fall, we spot the refugio, meaning we will have dinner and shelter tonight. It is only about 100 meters from another glacier and near to the snow line, meaning it would be freezing at night (2 degree Celcius in the eveining)

Many Argentian soldiers are staying here. It's the border of Argentina and Chile. We will stay with the soldiers in the same room (a balcony with matresses laid close to each other actually) Hopefully they won´t snore too loudly.

We get really "close" to the military chopper
see all photos »

It's a starry night with Milky Way. We stay outside for a while looking at the sky. Sometimes we spot shooting stars. The creator has created such beautiful and wonderful sky.

In the early morning, the Tronador peak is shined with red light from the sun. Objects on the ground like rocks and stones are covered with a thin layer of snow. A think layer of ice is formed over streems.

After the breakfast, an army helicopter shuttles between here and the bottom of the mountain to transfer military goods. We chat with a good-looking  pilot and get very close to the chopper, so we can take photos and vidoes of it taking off and landing.

Wai Wai is showing to the pilot and mechinical engineer the pictures of NY military museum.
see all photos »

The pilot says we may be able to take the helicopter to Pampa Linda where we have to get there at 5pm to take a bus back to Bariloche. We may even fly directly to the Bariloche airport which is a better option for us. He has to ask for the permission from his head and asks us to wait here.

Shortly after 1pm, we are told we cannot take the helicopter as it has to take some other military passengers. Hence, we rush down and take lots of shortcuts. But we manage to take some photos. The colorful bushes are still very nice.

Ice is formed at the water surface in the early morning
see all photos »

Finally we get to the bus stop at 4:15. Not bad.

P.S. We get a good news from Aerolineas Argentinas -- economic seats for the tomorrow's flight are confirmed. Remember all the flights have already been fully booked weeks ago! We also get confirmed seats of business class at 4:40pm on Apr 13 from El Calafate to Buernos Aires. Yes, business class, but it is not quite expensive actually (about US$300). Now after all the transportation issues have been resolved, we can head south to see more different things instead of staying in Bariloche for almost 2 weeks. It's amazing! Praise be to the Lord.