We invite you to live an amazing winter mountain experience in the heart of the Andes Mountains, in a unique environment. On the outskirts of the city of Bariloche, we take advantage of the great accumulation of snow at Arroyo Casa de Piedra Valley to go out into the mountains with snowshoes and reach the San Martín Mountain Hut (known as Jakob). The hut is located by an alpine lagoon called “Laguna Jakob” at 1,564 meters above sea level, which during the winter remains frozen and covered with snow. Around the vicinity of the hut we can explore different panoramic points that offer incredible views of the surrounding valleys and rocky peaks. Without a doubt, an unmissable winter trek with snowshoes!
The journey begins, the night before your traverse, in the city of Bariloche where you will meet your Mountain Guide to chat about the experience and to check the personal equipment for each one of you. On day one, you drive to a location calle “El Tambo Báez”, where the path to the hut begins. The first trekking section will surely be without snowshoes due to the low elevation. As we enter the valley and the Andes Range, we will begin to cross snowy areas and after a couple of hours you will put on your snowshoes and climb the switch backs that ascend towards the alpine valley where the Jakob lagoon is located. After approximately 7 hours of hiking, you will arrive at the San Martín Mountain Hut where you will spend the night. It is time to relax and enjoy the incredible views and snowy peaks. The hut is super comfortable and heated and the staff will provide a delicious dinner accompanied by the special mountain atmosphere.
The second day of the journey you will take the opportunity to visit different attractive points in the valley such as the “Laguna de los Témpanos”, the “Schweizer Pass” and if the snow conditions are appropriate, try an ascent to Cerro Cella summit. The proposal is to spend the whole day exploring and taking advantage of the snowshoes to move comfortably through the alpine terrain. In the event that the weather is not entirely favorable, we can take shorter walks in the vicinity of the hut and return to its shelter. Before dinner, it will be time to go out and enjoy the starry sky and complete silence of solitude.
On day three, after a good breakfast, you begin the descend to the city. You will follow the same itinerary as in the ascent, but this time, enjoying more the views and details of the native forest since going downhill is always less effort. After 5 hours of trekking, you arrive back at the Tambo where the transfer will be waiting. The drive back into town, it is only 40 minutes and then time for a good hot shower!
