How to get there:
Malargue is a town nearby with all services.
From Malargue, drive north on Hwy. 40 (about 40km?), turn left and
drive through an open gate near location S35.09479, W069.59536.
This is just before the Hwy. turns right and enter the small
village of El Sosneado.
A good 4WD should get from this turn-off to the trailhead in about 2.5 hours.
First, this road crosses towards the river Rio Atuel, there are a few farms
in this area. You need to cross 2 small bridges, hopefully they are
stronger than they look. After passing the second farm, you should turn
sharply left near location S34.93905, W069.77076. The road climbs and gets somewhat
rougher. There is a single person, "Rollo", living in a hut higher up. There
is a small road fork near S34.94475, W069.84987, with
the left descending (short way) into a small vally
where you will see his hut.
Rollo has goats,
cows and horses. It is possible
that he can organize horse transport to Base Camp. He was not around
when we checked. You will see the east summit
of Plateado while driving, the highest summit
is often out of view behind.
After Rollo's place the road gradually gets rougher and eventually disappears
completely. However, the area
is pretty nice for driving off-road. We continued
to location S34.96563, W069.91329, elevation near 2860m. The sand and slope combined
to stop us here, so this was our trailhead. Route description: From the trailhead to Base Camp:
From the trailhead, continue uphill (west), but cross more right as soon
as convenient. You will see a big ramp about 50 meter lower. Make a descending traverse,
heading west, to this ramp and ascend it (gentle slope) to where it narrows and ends.
From here, the route descends slightly more than 100 vertical meter in order
to reach the valley floor.
This slope is fairly steep and inconvenient. There
are several tracks, at least in the lower half.
You will find a pretty good trail in this valley that may be followed.
Continue into this valley, this seems completely flat, but it does
gain a little elevation. Stay on the right side of the small river,
a branch turns more right, base camp may be established anywhere uphill
among some large boulders. We made BC at location S34.96023, W069.97993,
elevation near 2925 meter.
From BC to High Camp:
Looking uphill, there was really only two options. One could try to climb following the small
river that came down or one could go directly up to the base of the cliff, then follow this right
before ascending past it and then do a traverse left above this cliff. We had a track that had used
the first option. It looked steep, one needed a tricky crossing of the creek and would
be forced to climb on the left (wrong) side until quite high. To me, the second option
looked more attractive. Thus, we went for this and it turned out to provide a pretty easy and
good route up to the more level area where a small creek with good water merged with the larger creek
that carried typical glacier silt, grey and loaded with particles.
This location would be very
good for a camp, then with a longer summit day as it had good flat places for tent(s) and ample
supply of good, pure water. This location is near S34.94818, W69.98202, elevation near 3450m.
The last section, from this creek to the High Camp, is all easy terrain. Continue up the ridge, higher up
one would cross left (gully) and ascend the slope to gain the more flat area just below a new somewhat
steeper slope (below the cliff band higher up).
This high camp area is a little above 3900 meter, leaving
about a 1000 meter of ascent for summit day. Our High Camp location was S34.93374, W69.98520, elevation 3930m.
From High Camp to the summit:
Do not ascend the (obvious) gully that leads up to the cliff band.
Rather go more right and bypass the (large) patch of ice on its right,
perhaps just cross it on a lower angle if going right is not practical.
The steepness above is hard to judge, but at least the map (and visual?)
show that one should be able to continue up the main ridge then move left and
towards a main col, then on ice/snow at a fairly low angle to the summit.
Comments:
We left Malargue early. The drive to the trailhead took (much) longer than
we had planned. We made a stop at Rollo's hut to ask him about possibly have
a horse carry gear to base camp, however he was not around and did not show,
so after about 30 minutes we decided to carry on. His truck was parked next
to his hut, but he was likely out looking after his animals.
We drove until the loose sand and the slightly steeper slope stopped us, then parked.
This was less than one kilometer from where the route made its first descent so
we were quite happy.
The hike to base camp was easy, in particular after getting down the steepish slope.
A quite beautiful valley with many cows,
a pretty good trail could be followed.
The walk from the car to our base camp had taken about 3 hours.
We looked for a safe crossing of the small river, but found none
and therefore established camp on the right side.
However, we needed water and this river was not good. The water was completely grey as
water coming directly from a glacier often is. Therefore, I set out to find a way to
cross in order to reach the creek draining the upper valley. I walked all the way
down to the point of comfluence, but no luck. Proceeding uphill, I finally located
a spot where I could cross in 3 separate moves. As expected, the water from the other
creek was crystal clear and good for drinking.
The next morning we ascended to High Camp, about 1000 vertical meter. This was all
easy terrain, a bit loose when traversing left (only the first few meter) above the cliff.
We arrived at an almost flat area where a nice creek with clean water (from your right) merges
with the bigger river flowing in a deep cut gorge.
This would certainly be a nice spot to
camp. However, the vertical that remains to the summit would be close to 1500 meter.
We continued up the ridge, traversing a bit left across a shallow gully to ascend the final
slope to our intended High Camp location.
This is a good spot for a tent.
The main disadvantage may be lack of local water.
Some water may be available in the gully above, however a safer option would be to just
carry water from the creek below.
We started at 0700 the next morning, as Franco said he wanted to see the terrain. I followed
as he ascended a pretty distinct gully that went directy uphill. After a bit of time, we reached the
cliff band that had been clearly
visible from below. The idea was to move around this on the
left side, then get onto the lower angle terrain above. However,
it turned out that this cliff band
continued uninterrupted, a long way left. There was no option to go this way.
Bad news. We next walked right towards the ice.
On the way, we spotted a single possible spot
to climb the cliff band, however we would need a rope. Franco had carried a rope up to high camp,
but left it there this morning. We next explored the ice, but it was steepish, at least in the
very beginning, not a very good option. We decided to descend and try to get across lower down.
This descent got us half way down to high camp.
Franco now worried about the time, thinking
that it would be too late to make the summit. Perhaps try again tomorrow morning? However, we
had almost no food and water left in high camp. The conclusion on all this seemed inevitable,
turn around and descend.
Thus, we descended to high camp, broke camp and continued to base camp. I told Franco that
we might as well return to the car and drive back to
Malargue. This was quite within the time frame available.
The details that should have been different:
Early Start:
Franco decided that we should start at 0700, in order to see the terrain.
However, if we had followed the only track available, it was pretty easy to see the day before, that
this would just go straight up the slope, tending a bit right, with no obvious issues until reaching the ice
or possibly passing this on the right side. However, with an earlier start, we could have afforded to
descend back down (half-way) and then reascend on the correct route without being too late for a summit that day.
Safe Route:
Franco decided to climb straight up a gully more left than the track we had. This would get us to
the cliff band. The idea was then to go around this cliff band on the left, thus avoiding the first
patch of ice completely. The map seemed to support this choice, however the cliff band was not well
represented on the map. As it turned out, it was impossible to pass the cliff band on the left.
Food in High Camp:
We had left a cache of food in Base Camp, thinking that we would get down there on summit day.
However, with a failed summit attempt, it would be easy to return to high camp and make a new
try the next day. However, this would depend on having some (more) food in High Camp.
Take the gear you have with you:
Franco had carried a short rope all the way to high camp, but then left it behind on
summit day. There was one possible weakness in the cliff band, but climbing this would
require some help/protection of a rope. Thus, this was no option for us.
