The trekking Mecca of the world

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Heading to El Chalten, world renowned for its trekking, we were looking forward to seeing some more stunning scenery and some good walks. The weather in El Calafate was beginning to get a little windy, but nothing like we were to witness in El Chalten. It was a 4 hour bus ride very desolate scenery until we reached Lago Viedma, where we could see the glacier Viedma running from the mountain down to the waters edge, it was very windy and cloudy so we didn't get the lovely view of Mt Fitzroy (3441m) that we were hoping to get, given that we had seen it from the aeroplane we knew what we were missing out on. El Chalten is inside the Parque Nacional de Los Glaciares and only a new town in itself, only having its foundations in the late 70s early 80s and caters purely for the tourists that come to walk the surroundings. We hadn't booked accommodation in advance and it was a little tough finding somewhere, and what was worse, the wind was now picking up that much that we were getting blown around everywhere, against the wind with our backpacks. It was a painful experience, we eventually found a dorm room, where we were happy just to have somewhere to get in out of the cold and wind.
There is not much to do in the town really, the walks is what everyone is here for and when the weather is against you, indoors is where you want to be.
After going to sleep with the winds howling against the window in our room we were surprised to wake in the morning to a relatively still day and clear weather, we couldn't believe our luck. We could see the top of Cerro Fitzroy from the town. There was two walks we were looking at doing, the Cerro Torre walk and the Mt Fitzroy walk. We were told that Cerro Torre is the last to clear and first to cloud over again. Given that we could see the top Mt Fitzroy from the town we decided on the Cerro Torre walk as it was a clear day.
The walk was beautiful, one of the best we have done. It started through wooded forest, where we could hear the woodpeckers at work and were lucky enough to get a good look at one from close range, he was very quick and darted around the tree trunk, giving the trunk a good hammering. It really was nice to see and the flaming red head they had added to the picture. Once we got to the lookout for Cerro Torre (3102m) we could see the lower and middle portions. with misty cloud covering the tops, but the scene changing constantly as the cloud and mist moved around, Cerro Solo was to the left and was clear in the sky as well as the Fitzroy range to the lright with My Fitzroys peak over the mountains. This was our scene as we headed towards Cerro Torre in the lovely weather, the walk was flat so it wasn't hard at all. Having been about 3 hours from town we arrived at Laguna Torre at the base of the mountains. There are many blocks of ice, large and small all floating in the laguna, at the far side of the laguna where it meets the mountains is the Glacier Grande and it is massive, going all the way back up the mountains. We stayed here for lunch, watching Cerro Torre as the clouds rose and fell, like they were alive, like a sea swell. Giving us an everchanging view which meant too many photos of course. We never got a complete view, but almost to the top, it wasn't until about 15 minutes on the return journey that the clouds lifted completely exposing the Torre so I was quick to get a snap before they shyed away under cloud once more. All in all it was about a 6 hour walk, it was fantastic, the walk not hard, pleasant woodland and brilliant views. Once back Deb was heading straight for La Ceveceria, which was a lovely and cosy restaurant and brewery. Some nice brewed beer and delicious Argentinian wines. And the food also great, we had lovely pumpkin soup and also ravioli filled with Spinach and Pumpkin and empanadas.
Shattered after our long walk we went back to the hostel where it wasn't long before we were asleep, exhausted and preparing for another days trekking.
Sadly , El Chalten had other ideas and was back to its brutal best, winds back up and clouds dominating the sky. I just really can't believe the changeability here in Patagonia. We decided to give the Fitzroy walk a go anyway, there is nothing to do in town and we were praying that the cloud might lift by the afternoon. We should have prayed more! The walk was in similar countryside to the previous day, but once over the main mountain behind town, instead of seeing the Fitzroy range in all its glory, we say ice and snow on the bottom of the range and thick cloud cover above. It started to rain a little but we soldiered on, we made it to the Poincenot camp to have some lunch, but once the blood stopped pumping it didn't take long to get cold. We were closer now to the large range and you could see the massive thick glaciers that froze at the base. We decided not to do a final walk to Laguna de Los Tres, as the wind was still strong and the view still obscured. It wasn't a long walk that day, but an adventure itself.
Looking back, not really knowing the unpredicatability I probably would have cut from the Torre walk on the first day across to the Fitzroy walk while it was clear, but we still had a good time. We were also hoping that the following day when we were to leave wasn't a crystal clear day (I know its mean), and it didn't turn out a good day for weather so we didn't feel hard done by leaving. We are thankful that we had the one good day out of the blue.
A lovely Locro for our final dinner as we prepared for our long bus ride on the infamous Route 40 up to Bariloche and the Lakes district of Argentina.

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