Check before you go, I heard that access is closed to many of the mountains in the San Juan region due to the lagoon break this past week. Mudslides took out 2 bridges and the routes are said to be impassable on Mercedario. I heard it also affected Cerro Negro and general access in the region.

I think this would only affect the north side (normal routes) of Mercedario and Negro.

I dont think it would have affected the valle colorado which is the south side, however perhaps there could have been damage further downstream closer to Barreal.

Get in touch with the locals if you're headed that way and double check though www.donmercedario.com.ar should have the most upto date information.

I just got out from the area.

The Rio Colorado side, with access to the south face of Mercedario, Ramada, La Mesa, Pico Polaco, Mirador, Negro and Alma Negra is not affected, but the water level is high in the river this year and fording the river is a hazard.

The Rio Blanca/Las Molles side is <b> cut off!</b> The flash flood swept away basically the whole camp at Las Molles and long sections of the road. To access the normal route on Mercedario and peaks like Trabante etc. you either have to walk over Paso Ancho (4700m), from the Rio Colorado side or take your changes on the Molles side.
This means, no mulas (no way they can make it), dangerous steep scree sections where one wrong step will cause a slide and possibly a fall into the river. There are many bad sections in between the refugio at the lagoon and Las Molles.
Worse, the main road in between Las Molles and Las Juntas is cut in five places. You can cross the first sections after Las Molles, but rock falls are all over the place and very frequent. No small rocks either. They are sometimes of the size of a normal one family house. Two more sections can be crossed, but here the drop into the river is probably fatal and the scree is still sliding now and then. Section four and five...class 5, possibly class 6 climbing high over the river, on rotten rock. We choose to head up over the whole ridge instead, which made us ascend 1200m. Whatever anyone tells you - it's better to head back over the Paso Ancho.
There's a crew working on the road, but it'll take time until it's ok again. Not for this season is my guess.

<a href=http://www.ecolips.com/NotesFromPrezItem.aspx?id=b2b79b4f-22b7-4266-b986-98b7aeb58d0e>Here are some photos that show pretty well what happened.</a>
(Continue to click "previous" to see more photos in the right order).

nice

they've even knocked off a couple of my photos to use in there (they probably found them on here).

I just sent the owner of the site a little message

prompt and curteous reply, simple misunderstanding of ownership

Corax, have you been into the Ansilta? If so, which peaks?

No, I have not been to the Ansilta Range. The plan was to go there as well, but as conditions were a bit rougher than expected because of the flash flood we lacked the food to continue there.
Some of the Ansilta peaks looked very interesting and I would love to go there next time in the area.

If you decide to go to the ansilta and are looking for some partners please get in touch.