THE BASICS ON BARILOCHE’S
MOUNTAIN REFUGIOS
Refugio Frey is the most popular and best known in a chain of mountain refuges (hostels) in the spectacular Andes ranges behind Bariloche. The refugios are built, owned and operated by the Club Andino Bariloche (CAB), which was founded back in 1931. As you can see, they knew a thing or two about picking locations.
They all offer basic accommodation, meals (either individually or as a package with breakfast or breakfast and dinner included), and kitchen facilities if you prefer to cook your own food (a small kitchen use fee applies in that case).
You can even camp for free right outside too if your budget is really tight. A small bathroom facility fee applies, and there are space limits.
The CAB refugios are by far the simplest and best way to get into more of the unlimited back country skiing on offer here. It's a system familiar to anyone who has skied Europe.
It could have been done in Australia too, we had the basics in place in the 1950s. Especially Albina Hut on the Main Range, which would have converted perfectly into a staffed refugio and helped with a lot of other problems from waste to rescues if done properly. Dream on, it didn't meet the NWPS definition of heritage, unlike feral horses, and they took Albina out as some sort of blight on the ‘pristine environment'. So it's snowcampers only and hope they poo tube out. Given the sheer volume of horse shit on the Main Range nowadays, quite literally, it actually probably hardly matters if you do or don't with your own doo doo. But here the numbers now would be overwhelming anyway, so forget it.
Meanwhile in Patagonia from spring to autumn hikers can trek around to one or more refugios and do some amazing circuits. In winter and spring, several stay open for ski touring, offering perfect bases to get into this magnificent terrain – sure, there are penty of higher mountains on the planet, but very few areas with so many magnificent alpine lakes, never mind the beautiful lenga and coihue (Antarctic Beech) forests. And it's all pretty much pristine, apart from the refugios which blend into and get completely dwarfed by their surroundings. - OP
See our Snow More info box up for links and useful contacts at the end of this feature.
REFUGIO FREY
If you have done any research on back country skiing in Patagonia at all, Refugio Frey is the one that you'll read the most about on the internet. That's for two key reasons. First is the setting and skiing, with the most stunning backdrop, salivating couloirs and striking rock spires of all the refugios in the region.
Second is proximity, it's the closest refugio to the largest ski resort in South America, Cerro Catedral outside Bariloche.
Refugio Frey sits at 1,700m, at the head of a glacial cirque lake. That's about 50m or so above the treeline here.
The summit of the Torre Principal reaches 2,415m, the skiable bit 2,250m or so. The normal winter snowline is around 1,150-1,200m, so you can make descents of well over 1,000m vertical when conditions are good. Most people who make the effort to get out here will spend most of their time in the chutes and bowls above the refugio.