Roxana Badaloni
06/14/2020 - 17:33
- Clarín.com
- Society
The mountain with its snowy peaks, its vastness and the peace that its pure nature transmits, was making itself desired in the midst of the quarantine by the coronavirus. The climbers of Mendoza, San Juan, Bariloche and the rest of the Andean provinces must wait for the official authorization for the practice of trekking and climbing . There is a common protocol, but even the provincial governments did not allow the opening of parks and reserves in the mountains. However, many took advantage of the long weekend to resume activity. In Mendoza, with the return of internal tourism, the visitors took over the hills that surround the Andes mountain range .
In the last hours, the social networks were filled with images of groups of friends and families who went out to tour the mountain. “I return to mountain activities. We pass to the stage of social distancing from Covid-19. Decree 694 established that individual sports activities are enabled with a maximum of 10 people, ”user Rubén-trekkingMendoza wrote on Instagram.
However, from the Andinista Club of Mendoza, the deputy director Patricia Garis, explained that only in the course of the week would the protocol that the mountain clubs and entities have presented to resume training and enable the guides to return to work.
“Vallecitos is full. There was confusion with the information, but the mountain parks are not yet enabled, ”said Garis, in contact with the park ranger body that controls the hills of Luján de Cuyo and Las Heras.
Athletes and visitors took over the hills surrounding the Andes mountain range during the long weekend.
Athletes and visitors took over the hills surrounding the Andes mountain range during the long weekend.
The same thing happened on the Arco hill, in El Challao, the closest to the urban area of Greater Mendoza, which since last week has been visited for hiking: "It seems to be the full vacation season," said Daniela Martínez, professor of physical education, which on Saturday was with two friends to jog.
The Andinista Club estimates that about 10 thousand people per weekend cross the foothills and high mountains of Mendoza, in high season, in hot months. The main circuits are the hills of Las Vegas, Vallecitos, Penitentes, Banderitas, Cruz de Caña and Puente del Inca.
The foothills are also a site chosen by runners, such as the Arco, Áspero, and Gateado hills, among others. "Mountaineering is ideal to combat stress and can be practiced by people with allergy or asthma problems because there are no allergic agents in the mountains," says Garis. And he summarizes: "In the mountains we are happy."
Different members of the Women to the Summit collective also returned to the mountains: "We came at 7 in the morning on Friday to walk the Arco hill because we knew that later it would fill up," said Belén Escudero and Popi Spagnuoli.
And another group that came out on Saturday, under the command of Susana "Tuti" Céspedes, said: " There was a police check-in but they let us in to carry out the escalation ."
From this Saturday, Mendoza enabled internal tourism . It is possible to move from one region to another within the province, except for the San Rafael municipality, which decided to continue in isolation until June 26. The commune governed by the Peronist Emir Félix argued that "the hotels and providers of San Rafael are not ready to open to tourism."
Susana "Tuti" Céspedes led a group of the Mujeres a la Cumbre group on Saturday that returned to Vallecitos on Saturday.
In the rest of the province, there is no longer the concept of local transit and people from Mendoza can move more than 50 kilometers away. In this first instance of the mandatory preventive distancing, the opening of gastronomy venues, tourist accommodation, travel agencies and tourist transport and wineries with tourist services was approved.
On May 18, the mountain groups of Mendoza, together with that of other provinces, presented a protocol to the Government to allow hiking, trekking and climbing.
They propose to comply with hygiene measures to prevent Covid-19, use of face mask when staying in close contact with other people, when carrying out the mountain activity it is necessary to comply with a social distance of two meters between people and to attend small groups of less than 10 people. Do not share sports equipment. Sharing food or drinks is prohibited.
Mendoza. Correspondent.
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