START ON THE BUS GUS: REFUGIO LOPEZ

CERRO LOPEZ IS A 2,075M BIG MOUNTAIN CLASSIC WITH AMAZING BACKCOUNTRY SKIING JUST A 45-MINUTE BUS RIDE PLUS A HIKE AND SKIN UP FROM BUSTLING BARILOCHE.

The lights of the city (it has 120,000+ permanent inhabitants and 25,000+ tourist beds) are spectacular from up here.

Day trips are feasible, but it’s far better to stay up at Refugio Lopez on the tree line at 1620m. Nic Lawrence checked it out as the last of his Patagonia refugio ski missions.

Local guide Ramiro Calvo supplied the shot opposite – he can safely show you the best of it, or anywhere in the region for that matter. They get big avalanches up here and conditions change quickly, so having a guide with decades of experience is gold.

I was never particularly enamored with the idea of ski touring at Cerro Lopez. It’s so close to the main road out from Bariloche that I thought Refugio Lopez would be crowded. In addition, Cerro Lopez itself is a big open slab of a peak that wasn’t the most impressive of the almost unlimited options across the Andes skyline when I looked out the back of Cerro Catedral each day dreaming of my next touring trip. So it wasn’t until near the end of my trip, on 11 September, that I finally decided to visit, more out of an “I should at least take a look” attitude than really being all that excited. Boy was that attitude misguided!

Cerro Lopez is great. There is a scattering of terrain to suit anyone and everyone, with multiple faces, spines, basins, rollers and chutes of all aspects and angles.

After catching the bus to Colonia Suiza, my flatmate Caleb and I met an American couple, Chris and Sarah, at the trailhead, and we all started up the track with skis strapped to our backs. It’s a steep uphill, but not much distance, and after an hour or so we could put skins on. From there it was another hour skinning through the native beach trees to Refugio Lopez, which sits on a rock bench at 1,620m with amazing views over the lakes and mountains. The lodge can sleep up to 100.

After a quick bite to eat we emptied our packs of overnight gear for the skin up the face above the refugio. That took another 2.5 hours, arriving at the top greeted by a billowing westerly wind. Luckily we were on the lee side, but it still made the last 15 minutes of skinning interesting with dry windblown snow landing on a slick raincrust underneath.

Chris and Sarah pointed out a steep spine under some big rocks about 300m along the top ridge to looker’s left, so we took our skis off and bootpacked the lee side of the ridgeline to reach the spine. By this time the wind was howling, so it was good to get under the rocks.

There was some banter about who got to ski the spine. Chris graciously skied the chute to skier’s left of the spine, leaving Sarah to rip the spine.

However, just before she dropped in she made a last minute decision to ski the chute as well, because it looked like there was more windblown snow in there. Unfortunately the rain crust underneath meant she came unstuck and bounced her way down the chute. That meant I ended up being able to ski the spine and I didn’t hesitate.

The snow was part windblown, part windpacked on top of a raincrust, but it was steep and deep enough to turn pretty hard. It sluffed quite a bit and I nearly came unstuck on my last turn when my sluff caught up to me and took out my uphill leg but I held it together and skied out the bottom pretty happy.

Caleb followed with a nice line down the side of the main chute, and by this time the others wanted to skin up the other side of the little basin we had skied into and down a different valley to the one where Refugio Lopez is located.

I was having stomach problems by this stage, thanks to the virus from Refugio Jakob two weeks before, that hadn’t completely gone away, so I skied down the main face to the refugio while the others skinned up for some more lines. I was gutted, but I had nothing in the tank. We stayed that night in Lopez. I had my Radix Nutrition freeze-dried meals which have been a blessing on this trip when I need nutrient filled meals I can trust.

The others had spag bol from the refugio (the refugios normally operate with both included simple meals or use of kitchen options), and after a few beers we were in our sleeping bags by 10pm.

The next morning I woke up feeling worse than the day before, so I sat in the refugio contemplating my rotten luck while the others did another lap up to the top of Cerro Lopez.

We skied and hiked out the trail just after lunch and finished the day with a BBQ sandwich from Colonia Suiza (which was bloody fantastic I should add). I got home gutted with myself for not being able to ski as much as I normally would, but also at how I hadn’t gone to Cerro Lopez earlier. The place is so easily accessed and has amazing skiing.

It doesn’t get as much publicity as its sister Refugio Frey because it’s not as picturesque, or accessible heading out from the resort at Cerro Catedral, but the skiing is arguably more varied, and you also have fantastic views of the lake and Bariloche itself, not to mention cellphone reception. Next time I’m in Bariloche this is the first place I will be returning to. I left way too much of it unskied on this trip!

PATAGONIA REFUGIOS MISSING LINKS, GUIDES, CONTACTS, AND MORE REFUGIO FREY refugiofreybariloche.com

As the closest and best known, Frey is the busiest, monitor numbers on the website and book your slot as early as you can - monitor the weather on Windy.app for your best shot at reasonable conditions.

REFUGIO JAKOB refugiojakob.com.ar

The furthest to get to, and least busy normally, great to plan a few days here therefore. If it socks in, you can access mellow terrain right behind the refugio.

REFUGIO LOPEZ

Privately operated, email cerrolopezbariloche@gmail.com or try whatsapp +54 294 434-1194

MOUNTAIN GUIDE:

Ramiro Calvo is a local legend, ski or splitboard , he knows everywhere to go around here; message his insta @ramiro.calvo

INSTRUCTOR/GUIDE:

Dani Olivieri is a former interski team member, grew up here dolivieri_ski@ hotmail.com