IN PATAGONIA #2
THE LOCAL’S NOT SO LITTLE SECRET: REFUGIO JAKOB
THIS CLASSIC DRONE VIEW FROM LOCAL VIDEOGRAPHER BIANCA FIDANI SHOWS JUST HOW ALONE YOU ARE AT JAKOB, AND THE EXTENT OF THE TERRAIN ON OFFER — FROM MELLOW LINES BEHIND THE LODGE IF IT SOCKS IN TO FULL TILT STEEP SHOTS. NIC LAWRENCE CHECKED IT OUT. 76
Refugio Jakob is still pretty much the local’s secret among Bariloche’s backcountry ski community. If you like avoiding crowds, this is the winter refugio for you. In August and September the more famous and closer Refugio Frey can start to get pretty crowded (with loud Yanks mostly), but Jakob nearly always remains pretty quiet. Refugio Jakob (its full name is Refugio San Martin, but it sits at the head of Laguna Jakob and that’s what everybody calls it) is more difficult to access than Frey, so you have to be keen to ski there, and fit. You can ski off the back of Catedral for starters, or walk up a valley track. The track is 18km long so you better have your walking legs ready!
Most of the winter it’s a mixture of walking, skinning and bootpacking. It takes reasonably fit people 7-7.5 hours going up, and around five hours going down, conditions dependent of course. In mid-August I was lucky enough to hook up with local long-term expat Aussie tradie Robi Cooper, who knew the hut managers, Fran and Lula, were going out to Jakob for their next 10 day stint. Robi has lived in Bariloche on and off since the 1970s, and most of his kids were born here. One of his toughest but most fun jobs in recent years has been helping rebuild the refugio at Jakob after the historic original building was burnt down in July 2017 by self-declared mapuche activists.
