Week of October 19, 2015
By Katin Liphart (Carleton College)
Sometimes in life, you just need to go climb a mountain. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, nothing tangible can be gained from hiking up a piece of rock. On paper, the whole process seems illogical: spend hours huffing and puffing, risking exposure to rain or sleet or snow, for…bragging rights? A pretty view? And yet, mountaineering has captured the collective imagination of humanity for hundreds of years.
A view of the Chacabuco Valley from Las Lagunas Altas trail. Photo by Katin Liphart.
This past Tuesday, we hiked the Lagunas Altas trail in Chacabuco Valley, summiting Mount Tamanguito. Our original plan was to hike into Valle Furioso, giving us access to some of the last few undocumented cliffs in the valley to survey for viscacha. Due to trail construction, however, we did not receive permission from Conservación Patagonica (CP) to go into the Valle Furioso. We decided to stay at Los West Winds campground (near the headquarters of the future Parque Nacional Patagonia), a nostalgic place that was the site of Round River Patagonia’s basecamp for four semesters in 2012 and 2013.
After setting up camp, we were pondering what to do with our three days in the field. One of our instructors, Elizabeth, suggested that we spend the next day hiking the Lagunas Altas trail, a gorgeous 13 mile trek that wound up into the cliffs before us, through mountain lakes and near the Tamanguito and Tamango mountains. We were, of course, thrilled with this idea; while we all felt deeply connected to the field work we’d been doing, it would be nice to go on a hike purely for the sake of it. And so, at the crack of 8:45am the next morning, we set out with Grinnell journals in hand and oatmeal in our stomachs, ready for adventure.
Today’s objective: Tamanguito Peak as seen from Los West Winds campground where our hike began. Photo by Katin Liphart.
The Lagunas Altas trail is categorized by the CP map as a “vigorous day hike,” and it certainly lives up to its description. The trail begins near West Winds, and winds up over a thousand vertical meters to the five Lagunas Altas (“high lakes”) and to Cerro Tamanguito. The trail began in scrubby grassland, with herds of guanaco scattered among the spiky neneo bushes and tufts of bunchgrass. The hike took us up through strands of beautiful lenga forest and stretches of marsh, weaving between the lagunas. As we gained elevation, patches of snow became common and many of the lakes still had thick skims of ice protecting their surfaces. The lenga forests fell away, and the scenery became breathtakingly sparse: giant boulders and cliffs with a few scrubby plants and moss clinging to their rocky surfaces.
View of the Chacabuco Valley from the Lagunas Altas Trail. Photo by Adam Spencer.
We reconvened on the shores of the westernmost lake, a formidably barren spot with almost total ice cover that was being buffeted by wind whipping up from the valley. It had begun to rain, and from our vantage point we could see the top of Tamanguito gaining a new dusting of snow. Despite the conditions, we decided unanimously to try and make it to the top. The climb was steep, extremely rocky and snowy in places. The mood on the way up was solemn; we ascended in silence, focused on the terrain before us. Once we reached the top, however, the general mood involved jubilant shouts, screaming off the mountain side and general elation.
Author Katin Liphart reaches the summit of Tamanguito with a view of neighboring Tamango Peak, the Chacabuco Valley, Las Lagunas Altas, and Cochrane Lake below her. Photo by Adam Spencer.
The view was amazing, but the feeling of elation and adrenaline was even better. We had climbed a mountain (no matter how small).
RRCS Fall 2015 at the top of Tamanguito Peak! Photo by Adam Spencer.
I had a professor my freshman year who refused to let us use the word “awesome” in her class. She explained to us that it was an abused word that had been watered down from overuse. In her words, awe was something that transcended the mind and emotions; it was something felt deep within the soul. At the time, I thought she was being perhaps a tad overdramatic, but now I think I understand the true, soul-shaking meaning of the word. Standing on the summit of Cerro Tamanguito was awesome.
A student crosses a patch of snow while summiting Tamanguito Peak. Photo by Katin Liphart.
Top photo: Caitlin Eichten looks across the Chacabuco Valley from the top of Tamanguito Peak. By Katin Liphart.