Note
(rest day)
The configuration of the refugios meant there was always going to be one short day, either today or tomorrow. I had been thinking about doing the out-and-back up the Valle del Frances as an add-on today, but that wasn't an option as you're only allowed to start up there in the mornings. (I'm not sure why, but given that it's light until after 10pm, I wonder if it's because daytime glacial melt makes the stream crossings problematic in the afternoons?).
Not as many people out today - yesterday's route is a feasible walk for those only visiting for the day, but only the multi-day walkers were on today's route, which is essentially a "transport" leg around the southern edge of the range. There's still enough that you see people regularly ('Ola' is the standard initial greeting, though I suspect Spanish speakers are in the minority). There's a reasonable number of Americans and Europeans (you hear French quite a bit), and a few from our part of the world. (Having Macpac gear immediately marks you as being from Australia or New Zealand).
The forecast for today was poor (more with respect to winds than rain), so when I got up and saw it was OK, I decided to get the walk over as quickly as possible - with only 13km and not much climbing, that meant I was done by lunchtime. The main interest turned out to be the local winds. The overall wind forecast was for 90 km/h WNW winds, but in the early stages they were actually N/NE - as I was to appreciate, what's happening is that the flow splits in two around the mountain complex. One indication that things were different not too far away was to look at the lake below, and see the swells going in opposite directions on the northern and southern halves of the lake; an indication that things were soon to get far more interesting was the spray visible at the far end of the lake.
I rounded a spur and hit the southwesterlies on the southern branch of the split flow a couple of kilometres before the refugio. They were fierce, and squally (at least seeing the bands of spray on the lake below gave me a few seconds' warning of when a squall was going to hit) - it was difficult to stay standing in the strongest squalls, especially in more exposed areas. Wasn't too upset to spend the afternoon sitting around and admiring the conditions on the lake from a sheltered location. You could also see that there was rain not too far ahead, although it was sunny most of the day where I was (the ranges create a major rainshadow, with averages dropping from 2000mm to 800mm over a distance of 20km).
The squalls got even fiercer in the evening, and eventually broke one of the refugio windows - something which I think would require a gust well into three figures. Glad I wasn't in a tent.
Unlike the other two refugios I stayed at (which are accessible by road and boat respectively), you can only get into Los Cuernos by walking (or riding a horse) at least 12km, which makes for a generally different crowd. Included amongst it, though, was a girl of about 3, which means either she walked 12km or someone carried her 12km - I'm impressed either way. (Someone of my acquaintance did one of the big NZ tracks - the Routeburn, if I recall correctly - at a similar age; he refused to be carried, which was the original plan, and walked every step of it himself).