How to get there:
One should establish contact with Pedro before going to this mountain. This
will ensure that there are no access problems. See below under comments.
Travel to the small village El Nihuil, location -35.02756, -68.67375. A paved
road serves this community from the north. You arrive from Hwy. 144 (San Rafael),
then take Hwy. 180 south.
Continue south on Hwy. 180, it is now dirt, but good to drive for any car.
You should turn left and pass through a (blue) gate at location -35.62064, -68.68177.
This is a bit more than 60 kilometer south of Nihuil. If Pedro is around, then
he will confirm that this gate is unlocked.
Continue to Pedro's place. There is a single fork along the way with a sign "Leo"
going right, take the left fork here. Pedro's house is at location -35.62998, -68.53106,
elevation around 2420 meter. From here, the road climbs
almost 1200 vertical meter, a solid
4WD vehicle is needed. First, say hello to Pedro and give him a contribution, he will
appreciate that! (I paid about 50 USD).
Note that the road uphill gets a bit rougher in the upper part.
Most vehicles will need
to make a short reverse one or two times in many of the very sharp hairpin curves. It may
take about one hour to drive this section.
There is good parking at the top of the road, elevation 3600 meter.
This is the trailhead.
If your vehicle (or driver?) feels uncertain about
the final drive, one may hike from Pedro's house or posssibly just park (without
blocking the road) part way up.
Route description:
A rough trail runs uphill,
first on the right hand side of the crest,
then on the left, to gain the
highest point of the mountain.
This summit has a small antenna and
is otherwise, unfortunately, a bit cluttered with garbage.
Shortly before this summit, there is a
slightly lower summit that you pass on the left side.
This summit is "cleaner".
Comments:
We left our hotel in Malargue after breakfast and drove to Pedro's house. We had
a brief, but very friendly chat with him.
Pedro should be contacted by any party planning a trip, as he will then make certain
that your visit is successful. His phone number (also whatsapp) is +54-92604396910.
He showed us a bit around his farm house
including ongoing meat production.
We next drove up to the trailhead at 3600 meter. The road is generally good, but
there are (unprotected) loose rocks near the edge and several turns were too sharp
for our Hilux truck, thus a couple of forward/backward moves were needed.
We started hiking at 1150 and made the summit after 30 minutes.
Good views, but
too much (mostly metal) garbage on the ground. After a brief stay, we walked back
down in 25 minutes.
We concluded the day by driving back to our nice hotel in Malargue.
