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Published: March 22nd 2006
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Top ...er Bottom of the World
Just clinging on for my life at the summit. Well, after leaving Dawson Gav in Buenos Aires we boarded a 36 bus hour ride south to Rio Gallegos. This was the first time I spent two nights, and an entire day on one bus. Thankfully Jord and I got seats just behind the staircase so we could stretch out our legs. Poor Ryan had to sit beside a stranger for most of the way having to constantly jostle with him for space. Horrible food, dubbed movies, stenches from caged humans (well seated ones anyway) and spurts of unbearable heat made the ride hardly bearable.
I haven´t calculated the distance I have travelled since March 11th, but March 10th was the last day I slept in a bed (until last night -and it was beautiful). The amount of travelling I have done since February started would likely startle many of you, and I need to sit down with some maps and determine just how far I have gone.
Yesterday morning we arrived in Rio Gallegos only 90 minutes late (not bad for 36 hours estimated) and wandered around the barren town in search of food because we had not been fed in quite some time. We managed to get
Mount Fitzroy (Cerro Chaltén)
Or is it the palace from Wizard of Oz? Either way it gets all the more beautiful the closer you get. sandwiches and another bus ticket to El Calafate. We met up with Michael and Doris, bought some gear (we needed gloves for our hiking expedition) and jumped in a rental car for El Chalten. We were all relieved the car actually made it, and only one rabbit exploded on our bumper. These rabbits were quite insane, as big as dogs they would race across the highway like it was some sort of death game, or perhaps they were trying to outrun death himself, either way we will never know.
We rolled into El Chalten after dark, checked into a hotel and then went for steaks and beer. El Chalten the town isn´t much, especially now since their summer has ended and it it colder, damper and cloudier. The mountains surrounding the town though, possibly considered the heart of Patagonia is quite spectacular. We hit the sack early in anticipation of a 4 day hike, unfortunately upon waking this morning the rain was unbearable so we just toured the area in search of some good photos, by 4:30 the rain let up and we managed to hike into a little waterfall and captured some shots. The glacier and mountain shots
Frozen Solid
Our sleeping bags were rated to 0 degrees. The freezing alpine dropped far below that mark and as a result sleep never arrived. Winter camping for the win! will have to wait until after the hike, but for now, since I have gone so far south and have a day off waiting for the hike to begin a blog update would be a good idea.
It feels a lot like Canada down here, the climate right now is just past summer like I mentioned, but because of how far south we are, even though it is equivalent to mid September back home, we are so far south it is probably more like mid September in Northern B.C. and hence a bit colder than you would think. El Chatlen reminds me of a small ski town with all the tiny A frame cabins and other buildings on stilts.
We did, however, manage to escape El Chalten into the majestic Patagonian peaks surrounding Mt. Fitzroy. We successfully navigated and endured a four day expedition, the likes of which make it quite easily the best hike I have ever participated in. Although we had to delay things by one day, we planned to attempt the whole thing in three days. This proved close to impossible after navigating to a shortcut and finding nothing but a fairly large river in
Through the valley
I did get blisters, but it was well worth it. its stead. We later learned that the rainy day which delayed us, was actually day number 18 of rain, and thus much of the surrounding alpine was in a state of flooding.
We did make the entire hike though, in four days, blisters and all, plus quite safely. We pushed our limits on a 1500m vertical rise that ended with us scaling a shale slope on all fours to a summit just metres away from the back side of Fitzroy, where we made pasta and laughed, once again, after putting it in its place. Frankly, the only way to fully appreciate this hike is to do it yourself, however my photos are a close second place. I filled an entire half gig memory card just from the hike, which I cant possibly post enough of, but I will do my best to choose the best. Right now, I am only posting pictures from the rainy days, so you can all wait in anticipation for the actual Fitzroy pictures in the clear blue sky, because as of now they are being burnt on CD in the photofinishing store.
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