Chos Malal – Laguna Tromen – Barrancas
A scenic ripio route from Chos Malal to Barrancas via Laguna Tromen which is a pleasant alternative to the main paved road. From near Laguna Tromen it is possible to climb Cerro Wayle as well as Volcan Tromen, one of the highest mountains in Argentinian Patagonia.
Cerro Wayle can be climbed from Refugio Wayle, while to climb Volcan Tromen, turn off the road at the north end of Laguna Tromen onto a sandy track and follow this round the shore to make a base camp near shepherds’ huts at the southeast corner of the lake.
Although expensive meals are available at Refugio Wayle when it’s open, it’s best to bring all supplies from Chos Malal/Barrancas.
| Details | |
| Distance – 100kms | Head north on RN40 from Chos Malal (930m). After 8kms of tarmac, turn L onto ripio RP2. Continue on RP2 to a signed junction to RP37. Turn R to Refugio Wayle, which is 40kms from the RN40/RP2 junction. Refugio Wayle (2,240m) to Barrancas (1,120m) is 50kms of ripio followed by 2kms of tarmac. The surface is good to Refugio Wayle and though worse it’s still fine from there to RN40 near Barrancas. |
| Time taken – 2 days and amount climbed 1,870m | 6 hours: Chos Malal to Refugio Wayle (1,500m climb). 4 hours: Refugio Wayle to Barrancas (370m climb). |
| Traffic | A couple of cars a day on the ripio section. |
| When we cycled | Early April 2010. |
| Difficulty | 2 |
| How much we had to push on this route | Not at all |
We did this route heading south, coming from Barrancas in December 2014.
There were several small junctions on the ascent heading south, always stay left. For second half of the climb the surface becomes worse but all is ridable. There was one stream around 25km in to the climb, and then another stream around half way down the descent (sorry I can not be specific with distance).
The refugio Wayle was closed when we passed, and the several gauchos we met told us that they had not seen a park ranger for days, so do not rely on getting food there. We were looking out for the refugio on our left as we were coming from the opposite direction but it turned out to be on the right, so watch out for this one.
I really enjoyed this route, and you can read about it here-. http://theseplacesinbetween.com/el-tromen-dirt-roads-gauchos-and-a-volcano/
Thanks guys, Cherry x