Rock climbing in Piedra Parada

Piedra Parada is natural monument, located 130 km to the north of Esquel, it is known for it´s astonishing height and the curious way it contrasts with the environment, being the only rock formation noticeable in the horizon.

Historically this place has only been visited by the locals, since the tourists were not aware of it. In order to change this situation an international rock climbing contest has been organized, it will take place on the rock itself in October this year.

In general terms the competition consists in climbing the rock as fast as possible, facing 200 mt of elevation, loose rocks and a lot of sharp edges on their way to the top. Many professional climbers were attracted by the challenge and have confirmed their attendance to the event.

Anticipating a most likely wave of tourism, some local businessmen have established a good variety of stalls, rentals and even a buffet near the monument.

In conclusion this competition will get more people to visit the monument, so they can get to know such a beautiful and amazing place and even have some fun escalating the rocks, while leaving some profit to the local businessmen.

By Franco José

Climbing School in El Bolson

You all know the Comarca Andina has huge mountains with amazing landscapes with shelters to visit, and the problem is that the new generation (kids, teenagers) don’t visit them, they think that it will be too tiring, or they just don’t feel like doing it, They are missing the opportunity to visit unique places that are in the surroundings of their town. The Club Andino Piltriquitron this year founded a new “Climbing School”, runned by the sports teacher Walter Mitanovitch and Alejo Nicora, two enthusiastic instructors with many experience on this area.

Everybody from the age of 10 to 18 is invited to join one of the groups for kids or teenagers. The project is starting and they only visited some places, such as the Mount Piltriquitron, where they reached the summit, The Desemboque, the Currumahuida.  When the weather is not good classes are taken at the rock climbing indoor wall, where children and teenagers learn the basic skills to practice this sport.

So if you are interested in getting to know the beautiful places that surround your town but you can’t find someone to join you, or you feel tired, joining this group will motivate you, and you will discover that the mountain is a place where you can be completely free, and you will enjoy it with people who cherish the same.


Emilia Sirvent

Pagano Park

El Bolson is a beautiful town, but it has the potential to be even better, to improve some of its biggest attractions. One of it is “Plaza Pagano” (Pagano Park). You might be a local, a tourist or maybe you don’t even know this place, but if you are planning to visit El Bolson, you already have, or you live here, what’s happening with this park is an issue that should concern you as well. This place is been extremely mistreated by everyone. The local raft market (worth visiting) sells food besides rafts, and its residues are simply thrown to the floor around the square, and because it has a pool in the middle, all of it goes there. This is not the only way that this place gets dirty, during the week you can see all kinds of trash just floating there. Of course this pool is almost never cleaned and the garbage accumulates in it. I believe that no one throws trash in their houses living room, so why should it be done in your town? Or worse, someone else’s town. Local authorities have to take conscious of this problem and do something about it, like adding more dust bins around the park, or hiring more employers to clean the mess that is left every week, because is clear that what is done it’s not enough. But beyond the authorities, us, the locals must do something too, everything from simple actions like throwing our garbage on the dust bins, to something bigger, like organizing a cleanup were everyone can participate. Those are the ideas that I could come up with, but believe that if more people take interest in this issue we will be able to create a plan to maintain this park in excellent conditions.

Emilia Sirvent 

The best shelter is a BLUE BOX

                                         The best shelter is a BLUE BOX

In the mountains of El Bolson there are many places to visit if you want to connect with the nature in adventure’s excursions. In the mountains there are shelters.Where you can relax, sleep one night and get ready for the next day, these shelters are pretty rustic and deteriorated; some  don’t have lights, bathroom or running water. But when the night arrives the shelters are a good option to spend the night.

One of the best shelters, and of course a nice place to visit is “El Cajon del Azul”, this place is so beautiful because of landscape; it takes about 6 hours to arrive to the shelter, you have to cross 3 bridges, are very insecure in my opinion and the wood is so rotten, when you are crossing the river you have the sensation that the bridge is going to brake up. Half way down the  trail there is a place as a beach where you can relax for a moment near the river.

When you arrive to the shelter you ´ll find a nice place with all the basic services: a bathroom with shower,, electricity, food,  entertainment, and of course a second floor with beds mattresses. Nevertheless, the shelter it’s pretty cold, and of course if you haven’t got winter clothes provably you are going to have a bad night. One  thing about this shelter is that with all the services it provides it  may have lost the adventure  essence; you may feel so comfortable you won’t want to do anything t but stay in the shelter and you may lose many interesting activities.

So in a conclusion, if you want to have a relaxed day in the mountain we recommend you the shelter in El Cajon Del Azul, but if you want to relly connect with the nature, feel the adventure and have a good rough experience, we recommended you to visit the shelter in Mount Lindo one of the worst shelter in El Bolson.

The best shelter is a BLUE BOX

                                         The best shelter is a BLUE BOX

In the mountains of El Bolson there are many places to visit if you want to connect with the nature in adventure’s excursions. In the mountains there are shelters.Where you can relax, sleep one night and get ready for the next day, these shelters are pretty rustic and deteriorated; some  don’t have lights, bathroom or running water. But when the night arrives the shelters are a good option to spend the night.

One of the best shelters, and of course a nice place to visit is “El Cajon del Azul”, this place is so beautiful because of landscape; it takes about 6 hours to arrive to the shelter, you have to cross 3 bridges, are very insecure in my opinion and the wood is so rotten, when you are crossing the river you have the sensation that the bridge is going to brake up. Half way down the  trail there is a place as a beach where you can relax for a moment near the river.

When you arrive to the shelter you ´ll find a nice place with all the basic services: a bathroom with shower,, electricity, food,  entertainment, and of course a second floor with beds mattresses. Nevertheless, the shelter it’s pretty cold, and of course if you haven’t got winter clothes provably you are going to have a bad night. One  thing about this shelter is that with all the services it provides it  may have lost the adventure  essence; you may feel so comfortable you won’t want to do anything t but stay in the shelter and you may lose many interesting activities.

So in a conclusion, if you want to have a relaxed day in the mountain we recommend you the shelter in El Cajon Del Azul, but if you want to relly connect with the nature, feel the adventure and have a good rough experience, we recommended you to visit the shelter in Mount Lindo one of the worst shelter in El Bolson.

be careful bolson is on fire

                                                        Be careful bolson is on fire
The summer is approaching and here in Bolson we have serious problems on this season. We received tourists and they go camping. The most concerning is when they decide to make a bbq and they need of course fire. But the problem is that in summer the grass is dry and, most probably, a spark can start a terrible forest fire.

Every year there is a lot of forest fires in Bolson, especially in summer. But a lot of people work to prevent this catastrophes: for example the SPLIF  (Servicio Permanente de Lucha contra Incendios Forestales) made a lot of campaigns  warning the people in the city and the tourists about the risk of making fire and of course they fought forest fires with their brigades.

Forest fires start for a lot of differente reasons. Mostly because  tourists or our people burn grass and bushes to clean their farms. Still there are people who start a forest fire because of an argument with their neighbors and the best revenge for them is to set fire to the farms.

There a lot of ways to prevent these tragic events. We can have a lot more of campaigns for all the people and  tourists and may be a good idea would be to forbid making fire or burn grass and bushes in summer.
LUCAS BAUTISTA

Rio Chubut, a awesome river

Chubut River is in the south of Argentina, in the center of Patagonia. It gives its name to the province as it is the province´s main course of water.

It starts in the neighbour province of Rio Negro, near Cerro las Carreras, and after flowing into the province of Chubut, it arrives in Bahia Engaño in the Altantic Ocean, where Rawson city, the capital of the province is. Rio Chico is the main tributary of Chubut River.

It is a capital river in the steppes that flows through the entire territory of the province. The landscape it desertic with some low vegetation. Its banks protect fish and provide them with food. It has an average flow of four cubic meters in winter, snow and rains increase the flow up to thirty cubic meters.

Chubut River has a extension the of 867 km. It’s the largest river in the province. In El Maitén, a desert town, close to it, the main attraction is fly-casting and spinning.

The fish found are:

-Rainbow trouts;

-Brown trouts;

-Perch.

In the last section of this river there is the dam Florentino Ameghino, a hydroelectric power station, 140 km to the west of Trelew city.

The size of the dam is: wall, 25 km long. Tunnel, 300 m.

This damn holds the waters of Chubut River that come from the Andes icecaps. The dam has two engines of the 30 mw each. It also protects the habitants of the lower valleys from frequents floods.

At the river bank is in the town Villa Dique Florentino Ameghino of 200 inhabitants.

Juan Schwartzman