Looking back towards Bariloche with view of the Nahuel Huapi Lake from Cerro La Mona.
Between Bariloche and San Martin de los Andes is the Seven Lakes Road section of Ruta 40 that really encapsulates so much of the Lakes District reputation of beauty. Every twenty minutes in this 100 mile stretch of road there is another beautiful view and another short side-road to explore a valley, lake, river, town. I said “wow” so many times on this section of my trip and each peak > 7,500 ft offered incredible views of glaciated volcanos, peaks, lakes and the Chilean-Argentinian Andes.
My favorite sculpture of a female backcountry skier
El Bolsón is described as a hippy town and that is kind of true with a large artist market and many wood sculptures at the center and nearby Lago Puelo. That said, it is kinda a commercialized artistic center with large breweries and a fair number of tourists. However, I did have a great time there with my primary goal of visiting the ultra unique live wood sculpture exhibit of El Bosque Tallado on a mountain side. Along with some hiking / running of peaks and a popular blue river. The sculpture art installation was of a like I’ve not encountered outside of Burning Man which meaningfully incorporated the landscape.
From the Frey Refugio, it’s hard to count all the climbable towers circling the Laguna Tonchek, but it’s easy to imagine their shapes as cannons, faces, animals, chopsticks and hand gestures. The uniqueness of climbing in this area made the trip to Bariloche in the Lakes District of Central Patagonia an easy “yes”. I speak about logistics in this blog post, but this is my climbing primer from getting on top of some amazing spires!
When my friends showed me the spires ringing the cirque outside the Frey Refugio, I was an immediate yes to join them on their trip down to Argentina, centering on Bariloche. This isn’t the High Andes, but it’s definitely the Andes, Patagonia and alpine. The prominence here makes 7,500-8,500 ft summits provide a great view from a valley floor around 2,500 ft. It was a great zone to climb interesting spires, get on top of the highest thing around and stumble our way through a mix of information for a memorable keystone to the Central Patagonia trip. You can read my climbing trip here, but this post is about the logistics part which I found difficult to get a full picture abroad before the trip and only slightly better locally.
Bariloche is the ski-epicenter of Argentina, a major summer trekking destination, the main airport for the Lakes District in Central Patagonia and is incredibly beautiful in all seasons. This is a small city of 140,000 people sitting on the shore of Nahuel Huapi Lake. Nahuel Huapi Lake has the equivalent surface area to Lake Tahoe but 3x more shoreline as it is drawn into fjord-like inlets and permeated by an archipelago of islands and peninsulas both big and small. Over the ’25-’26 new year I spent three weeks in the Lakes District and two in the Bariloche area climbing, hiking, running, eating and visiting its lakes and beaches.
Mid-canyon when it opened up again for a great view of Badwater
It’s Death Valley Season! In early December ’25 I got back out to Death Valley for a small group trip with some besties and high value canyons. The day after Fossil Snail Canyon (EPIC), we descended 6,000 ft down Typhon (South Middle Fork). Typhon (South Fork) (3A IV 24r 185ft) was the first big Dante’s Death Valley canyon I did and remember it feeling kinda intimidating at the time three years ago. Now with my seasoned Death Valley crew, we had a great outing with amazing views of Badwater holding an abnormally large lake.
In mid-September I had the honor of being invited on a friend’s climbing trip out to The Red River Gorge, KY. It was an easy yes just for the huge joy I get from spending many days laughing and building friendships with the people I love in my life. I was also really excited to check out this iconic climbing area known as a world-class destination for steep, overhung routes where you can climb in the rain and pro climbers attempt 5.14. It absolutely delivered on what I expected with very featured sandstone with rails, pockets, large hueco holes and deep features.
Bear Creek Spire’s North Arete (5.8, 1,000 ft, 10p) is a classic Eastern Sierra alpine route to a 13,700 ft summit. I first attempted it as a newer climber in October and high wind conditions, luckily I was convinced to bail at the base. Later I sent it proper from a high camp in August 2019. This time around, I felt it was the perfect objective to get into the alpine with a newer trad partner. Especially because the approach was short enough to attempt in a day, avoiding the permitting game (which I was pretty unsuccessful with this year). It may also be the last alpine climb I get for the year, so worth the push.
Charlotte Dome, South Face (5.8, 12p, 1,500ft) is a 100 Classic Climb of North America. It is a bit too long to car-car (12mi, 3,000 ft from Eastside), so my friend Kevin and I decided to do it in two days. I was super excited to experience this large, long, wilderness epic climb in my year back to climbing and it fully delivered an adventure.
Hiking up Mt. Ruskin ridge with Arrowhead Peak looking awesome in background
To have an adventure there must be uncertainty and typically discomfort which pays off with surprise, presence and exploration. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in Kings Canyon and for this backpacking trip I wanted to get back into the high country and access an off-trail, high elevation lakes basin. A loose plan, an opportunistic permit grab and a cursory Summit Post look at a peak was all that I needed to push my self physically, feel like I was in a wilderness, have scrambling fun and be surprised by maybe the most beautiful, blue alpine lake I’ve ever seen on this 36mi, 13,000 ft, 3 day trip.
