Amutui Quimey Lake is a large reservoir in

Chubut Province Chubut ( es, Provincia del Chubut, ; cy, Talaith Chubut) is a province in southern Argentina, situated between the 42nd parallel south (the border with Río Negro Province), the 46th parallel south (bordering Santa Cruz Province), the Andes rang ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. Amutui Quimey is in the chain of lakes of the

Futaleufú River The Futaleufú River, located in northern Patagonia, is one of the premier whitewater rivers in the world. One of only two rivers to cross the 5,308 kilometer Chile-Argentina border, the Futaleufú headwaters can be found in the glacial snow mel ...

system of Argentina which via

Yelcho Lake Yelcho Lake is a large fjord-shaped lake located in Chilean Patagonia, in southern Palena province of Los Lagos Region, Chile. The lake receives the waters of the Futaleufu River at its southern tip, near the tiny settlement of Puerto Ramirez. The ...

and the

Yelcho River The Yelcho River is a river in the Los Lagos Region of southern Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, oc ...

flows into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. The Futaleufú dam was completed and the reservoir filled in 1976 and the lake occupies a narrow valley between glaciated peaks. They hydroelectric facility produces 2600 gigawatt hours per year, most of which is used for an

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

refinery in the city of

Puerto Madryn Puerto Madryn (; cy, Porth Madryn), also known as ''Madryn'', is a city in the province of Chubut in Argentine Patagonia. It is the capital of the Viedma Department, and has about 93,995 inhabitants according to the last census in 2010. Puer ...

. Amutui Quimey Lake is in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

within

Los Alerces National Park Los Alerces National Park ( es, Parque Nacional Los Alerces) is located in the Andes in Chubut Province in the Patagonian region of Argentina. Its western boundary coincides with the Chilean border. Successive glaciations have molded the landsc ...

. The name of the lake comes from the

Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who s ...

language. It means "lost beauty", referring to the beauty of the valley before the lake. No developments are permitted on the shoreline of Amutui Quimey Lake and visits are permitted during daylight hours only. Futaleufuch

Description

The Frey River flows about from Kruger and Futalaufquen lakes to Amutui Quimey. The Frey is not accessible by road, but is often floated and is noted for

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

fishing, scenery, and

whitewater Whitewater forms in a rapid context, in particular, when a river's gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that froths, making the water appear opaque and ...

rapids. The river has a flow of 100 to 350 cubic meters per second (3,500 to 10,000 cubic feet per second) with class 3 and 4 rapids at low water and four-plus rapids at high water. The Situación Range rises on the east of the Frey River. Cerro Situación, the highest peak, reaches an altitude of above sea level."Cerro Situacion", http://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=14298, accessed 3 Feb 2018 When impounded, the waters of Amutui Quimey covered four pre-existing lakes. Lake Situación was located at the junction of the Frey and Canelo Rivers. It was in size and had a maximum depth of . In the Canelo River drainage were lakes Quiñe (One), Epu (Two), and Cula (Three), , , and in size and , , and deep respectively. The outflow from the lake is the Futaleufu River which flows for a few miles through Argentina before entering Chile where it becomes a renowned whitewater river.

References

{{reflist Patagonia Lakes of Chubut Province Lakes of Argentina