CERRO TRONADOR

For thousands of years a thick icecap has roofed the peak of Cerro Tronador. From its three peaks, eight sliding tongues of ice model the land. With ceaseless movement, they dig down and shove everything out of their way, rolling away the stones, gravel and earth. This slow yet steady task can be observed while visiting the Black Snowfield.

This giant, called Anon by the aboriginal population, is 3,478 ms high and is the highest peak in Nahuel Huapi National Park. Its present name, Tronador, refers to the roaring sound that the constant breaking of enormous blocks of ice produce.

The three peaks of the mountain are known as the Argentine (3,410 m a s l), the Chilean (3430 m a s l) and the International (3478 m a s l), all of them are excellent challenges to mountain climbers who usually come to Bariloche during the summer. This is a spectacle that will not be forgotten.

The road to Tronador begins in Bariloche on Onelli St, which leads you to NR Nš258, from there, Pampa de Huemuleo is crossed in order to get to Lake Guitierrez after driving through the Pilmayen and Melgarejo Streams. At km18, on the shore of the Lake, there is an inn with a exclusively divine beach, two piers and a boat ramp. In this place, you can go for a guided ride around the area. As you leave the Lake behind, you start skirting the eastern tip of Lake Mascardi.

If you continue down this way you will reach a fork in the road. To the left you will see the start of NR Nš254 and the gravel road to Tronador. This is the road you must take, across the bridge over Manso Superior River and up to Pampa Linda.

Almost at the end of this road, you will see Manso River Glacier, better known as "Ventisquero Negro" (Black Snowfield), since it is covered with earth, sand and stones. Your trip ends a little further up, at the foot of Cerro Tronador. A track takes to an enormous natural rocky amphitheater called "Garganta del Diablo" (Devil's Throat) where there is a spectacularly high melt water fall.

LOS ALERCES CASCADE
Los Alerces Cascade is a variant of the above excursion. Instead of crossing the bridge over Manso Medio River, you continue all along the road skirting Lake Los Moscos and Manso River, until you get to a 300 m track that reaches this impressive waterfall. In a beautiful setting enclosed by mossy larches, you can watch Manso River strongly cascading between the rocks for a remoteness of 20 m or so.

The return journey is along the same road.

Having left Lake Gutierrez behind, and instead of reaching the city the same day you started the trip, you can select an alternative route. You can take a gravel road that branches off to your left going slightly back to Lake Gutierrez. Some kms ahead, you will skirt the Lake again, go past Villa Arelauquen and later reach a grotto called "Virgen de las Nieves" (Our Lady of the Snows). You return to the city along Bustillo Av.

CERRO TRONADOR VIA LAKE MASCARDI
This striking trip offers the interesting possibility of visiting the area around Cerro Tronador and sailing on Lake Mascardi. You set off from the city on NR Nš 258 toward Mascardi Harbor in order to embark on the Victory II cruise boat. You will have a superb one-hour-trip to Hotel Tronador. From this place, you may go up a path to the waterfall, or you can look over the 70 m drop where it originates.