Mount Champaquí Climbing notes shared by Mountain-Forecast users

  • November 05, 2017
    Robert McCallum from United States

    I hiked the Champaqui with a group of friends in late April 2017. Much later than that and it gets too cold. The Refugio is not heated! Bring a warm sleeping bag. It was just above freezing at night.

    Book the Refugio ahead too as it was quite crowded when we were there though mostly that was bad timing as a group of school children were there at the same time. Getting there from Cordoba airport with a rental car is not hard even though it had rained the night before and the last "bit" was dirt road and muddy.

    One thing I cannot emphasize enough is to bring GPS on your cell phone and back up battery pack. I am an experienced hiker and my friends made fun of me. The trail is hard to follow at times and on our first night a mist enfolded us so quickly just before we got to the refugio you could not see 5 feet in from of you!! We even got off track and were able to get back on thanks to my GPS!

    Other than that it was a great hike. We did it in 3 days and two nights but if you get up early the second day you can feasibly make it in two days one night. It's a long second day though and you had better be in good shape! Enjoy!

  • February 09, 2012
    Richard from United States

    We climbed El Champaqui during the first week Feb 2012 in three days starting from Villa Alpina. If you don't have a car, you'll need to hire a remise for 210 pesos (about 50 US dollars from Villa General Belgrano. There is a small hostel in Villa Alpina as well as restaurant if you wish to spend the night there.
    The trail is quite obvious and passes by el puesto de Moises Lopez about half way (3-4 hours) which serves as a refugio as well as working ranch. You can also walk all the way to the base of Champaqui (7-8 hours) and stay in one of several refugios there or camp.
    The trail to the summit can be confusing in the beginning as animals and climbers have created a maze of paths. Keep an eye on the summit and cairns along the way and most of the trails narrow down to the main path which passes a cave near the summit and is quite well used.
    An early start is advised in summer as clouds begin to filter in about mid-day even though the morning looks cloudless. Visibility can be limited in this case and some people have gotten lost.