Cerro Tronador and the Car Key

Tronador comes from the word for thunder, and the mountain has that name because of frequent avalanches from its glacier. We made our way to the base of Cerro Tronador today. The first half hour of the trip from Bariloche is along a pretty paved road that skirts the edge of a large lake. Then you turn right onto a dirt road, and the next 40 km is dirt. Most of the road is one way with the direction of travel changing in the afternoon. This is a good thing, because it is a narrow road with steep sides in many places, and there is a fair amount of traffic. The road winds along the edge of a couple more lakes, all with deep blue-green waters edged with steep wooded hillsides. In a few places there are gravel beaches where families camp or where hotels have been established. The lakes are also popular with fly fishermen. At the information office in Pampa Linda, an area with a camping area and hostel, our car key came apart with the metal part in the car door and the plastic part in Jake's hand. With some effort we managed to get back into the car and got the car started to head a few more km up the road to see the Ventisquera Negra glacier. On the way up, Jake backed the car downhill a few feet to let another car go over a steep section, and the car stalled. We figured the engine had flooded and Jake got it to start again after a couple minutes. We parked at the glacier overlook and admired the view. This lowest part of the glacier is black with dirt and dust and pieces float in a river of water white with glacial silt. Far above sits the bulk of the glacier with its bluish edge visible. Cascades of water fell down the mountain side from the melting water. Twice while we were in the park we heard the thunder of unseen avalanches.

Once done admiring the views, we attempted to start the car again, but no luck. We decided to walk the remaining kilometer to where there were a couple short hiking trails (and for backpackers the trail to a refuge higher up the mountain) and see if the car felt more cooperative later. The road goes through more forest, often with an understory of the native bamboo (see photo). At the trailhead is a snack bar that also serves what looked to be pretty good cakes and streudel, but we resisted. We took a short trail up to the base of a waterfall (see photo) and watched smaller waterfalls occasionally turn to mist when a wind blew through.

When we got back to the car it still wouldn't start despite our best efforts and innovative tool use (Jake tried a couple flat rocks for leverage on the key and then some helpful drivers provided various multi-use tools to try. Nothing worked though and a couple from Buenos Aires offered us a ride back to Bariloche in their old 10 passenger van (several benches had been removed from the center to provide storage space). They ended up giving another woman a ride too at the request of the police stationed at the beginning of the one way road. She had been staying at the refuge where her boyfriend teaches climbing.

The road back seemed long and very dusty, but it started raining about half way through. Unfortunately it was still raining when we got to town, and we got wet and cold the few blocks to the car rental place. We got a temporary replacement car which seems to be pretty rickety but got us back to our hosteria with its abundance of very hot water. Jake felt sorry for the car rental guy because he plans to go retrieve our original car tonight after 7 pm when the road is open two ways and bring it back to us fixed in the morning.