Cerro Navegante

With the holidays on the horizon and the summer heat starting to fill the Chilean Central Valley, it was time to start going higher and higher into the mountains. We had been trying to make an attempt on Volcan Llaima, but the weather forecast for our possible dates tended towards windy and snowy. So we turned our sights towards the Central Andes and closer to Santiago. After some browsing wikiexplora and looking at the options, we settled on Cerro Navegante as an objective. We were hoping the reasonable elevation would both make it an achievable single-day hike and that it might still hold snow so we could use crampons and ice axes (and, in my case, try a ski descent).

Tanio rented a “camioneta” (small pickup truck) on Saturday evening and stashed it at a friend’s apartment for the night (thanks, Patricia!). This was be critical for our planned early (0530) start, and the truck had enough room for the five of us (plus my skis).

So, on Sunday morning, beginning a little after our intended 0530 start (the concierge at the building where we’d stashed the car took some convincing before he let us take our rented car out of our friend‘s parking spot), Tanio headed East on the main boulevard in Santiago, picking us up as he went. Traffic was light to non-existent—as one expects for 0600 on a Sunday—and we made good time into the Cajon de Maipo. The lack of traffic also mean a lack of idiots passing on blind corners, so we were able to enjoy the drive even more than usual, as the Sun rose over the Andes in front of us.

After about two and a half hours of driving we reached the termas at the end of the road, which was the start of the hike. After some discussion with the gatekeeper we opted to pay the eight luka parking/entrance fee, rather than retreat several miles back down the canyon to park on public roads. All, in all, it was probably the right decision.

The air was still cool as we got out of the truck and shouldered our packs. There were a number of cars at the termas, belonging to people who had driven up on Friday or Saturday and were camping for the weekend. Not many of them were yet stirring when we arrived.

After the usual fiddling with gear we shouldered our packs and headed up the valley towards Cerro Navegante, not yet visible to us.

We started gaining elevation almost immediately from the car, but it was a pleasant walk. Despite my optimism in carrying skis, we experienced only a brief patch of snow along the way, and most of the water we saw was in liquid form as we hiked along a rather vigorously flowing stream.

At one point this river was complemented by a small spring emerging from the rocky hillside, only for the waters to trickle back into the slope and disappear a few meters later. Presumably the water filtered down into the river below, but the junction was invisible to us.

Farther on, we were faced with a minor, expected obstacle: we were on the East side of the river and Cerro Navegante was on the West side. We briefly looked for an optimal crossing, but there was no obvious opportunity to get to the other side without getting our feet wet. So we took our boots and socks off and gingerly walked through the knee-deep water. The crossing was only a few meters across, but the freshly-melted snow meant our legs were cold enough that the feeling started to leave the tops of our feet. Once out of the water our feet quickly dried in the sunshine at 3000m elevation and we donned our boots and resumed walking.

By this time we could see Cerro Navegante rising in the distance. And my fears from the mostly snow-free trail were confirmed – the mountain was completely free of snow and my effort of carrying skis had been for naught. Though I had half-expected it, I was disappointed there would be no spring turns in my near future. So I stashed my skis and boots behind a rock and continued towards Navegante.

The final stretch of trail to the foot of the mountain took us across a wide, shallow angle slope periodically cut by gullies which would have carried snow melt earlier in the year. After twenty minutes of walking the smell of sulfur became clear, as we reached a small thermal spring bubbling from the low slopes of the peak. At this point the trail kicked up and we began the laborious process of climbing the steep flanks of Navegante (which would have made for perfect turns with snow).

The extra weight of ski gear had sapped much of my energy and despite stashing my skis, the rest of the group had started to gain distance. By the time the slope became steeper, I was already plodding along and resting too frequently to feel like I would make the top. The mountain featured a shoulder, almost the size of a football field – I made that my objective and picked my way up a mostly dry streambed on the side of the mountain. As I made progress uphill, I noticed interesting shapes in the rocks at my feet. Despite now being near 3100m elevation, there were fossils of sea-dwellers in the rocks. This land had previously been under the ocean!

As I reached the shoulder of the mountain, the rest of the group was high on the flanks of the mountain and inching their way up. I found a comfortable mount of grass and dirt, ate some food, drank some water, and then laid down for a nap.

I was probably asleep for 90 minutes or so (much-needed). After waking, I spend a while sitting, enjoying the views of the Andes and the occasional bird soaring overhead. It was very peaceful to take time to just be – to not have anything pressing to do and to just appreciate being somewhere, breathing cool clean air, and seeing the white glimmering of snow on distant mountains. As I sat, the rest of the group had begun descending the peak and I saw them running zig-zags towards me.

We regrouped on the shoulder of Navegante and continued the descent to the car. The way back was uneventful, though we did have the stream crossing to contend with. After picking up my ski gear, our route hugged the bank of the river as we hoped to come across a section that would be easier to cross than the crossing we used on the ascent. To make a long story short, no easier crossing was found and we resorted to another short, but cold wade through knee-deep water.

As is typical in the mountains, clouds began building in the afternoon, during our hike back. They did not look threatening, but they did add some nice variety to the scenery, crowning the mountains in constantly moving white fluff.

The rest of the trip back was uneventful and we reached the car with plenty of light left. We had entertained the idea of slipping into the thermal pools for which we’d paid entry, but felt too tired to want to do that while still facing the 3 hour drive back to Santiago, so we pointed the car West and chased the setting Sun.