Blogs from El Chaltén, Santa Cruz, Argentina, South America - page 7

It was good to be alive! We had survived the inclement weather conditions of Torres del Paine and I had personally survived a post-camping-disaster-wife’s wrath. But we were, in all seriousness, looking forward to trying it again and going to Mount Fitz Roy. Mount Fitz Roy is an Argentinean mountain located near El Chaltén village, in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, on the border with Chile. Chaltén comes from a word meaning "smoking mountain", due to a cloud that usually forms around the mountain's peak. Conditions can be extremely changeable and erratic here, so Sarah and I were bracing ourselves. This time however, Lady Luck was on our side as we enjoyed five glorious days of sunshine in El Chalten. We were told that this is certainly not the norm - some climbers had been in ... read more

El Chalten is located at the northern endo of Los Glaciares National Park. It was founded in 1985 due to border problems with Chile. Since then it has become the trekking capital of Argentina because it’s the starting point of trails that leads to views of Fitz Roy (3405 m), Pincenot (3002 m), Cerro Torre (3102 m) and many others. Our guide set our expectation of seeing Mt. Fitz Roy and everything else in Patagonia low because weather is highly unpredictable and most often clouded over or raining. The day started out with iffy weather but slowly blue sky moved in. On the trail to Mt. Fitz Roy we saw condors and heard woodpeckers. We could see most of the peaks except Fitz Roy until we got to the last steep part near Laguna de Los ... read more

The weather reports from El Chalten have been dire but the luck of the gods was with us, hot sunny weather and Mount Fitzroy was beautiful! Sorry Linz the wifi is awful and keeps cutting out so I can´t download the photos but will do it when possible - honestly!! The mountain looks so clean - lovely pink tinges to the rock and against a beautiful blue sky it certainly is impressive. I walked up to the river at the base of it then went on to the glacier at the base, they seem to be attracting me rather a lot this trip! Talking to people on the walk we all agreed tht it is a mesmerizing mountain, some are impressive but we were all taking lots of ´last´ photos of this mountain at every possible ... read more

We got our bus to Calafate at 6am on the 9th, an hour late, leaving us waiting at 5am in the cold! The coach trip was a pretty arduous 20 hour journey, punctured by frequent stops at the Argentine and Chilean borders and a short ferry ride from Tierra del Fuego to the mainland. The journey took us through Chile for a few hours, and we were held up at Chilean customs as they were seizing food from most people. Some Swiss girls on our bus had a whole casserole of ingredients seized; we however sneaked some cheese in! We arrived in Rio Gallegos (where we had to change buses) early and had to wait 3 hours for our connecting bus, so we walked in to town. It was nice to see a real Argentinian town ... read more

After a pleasant nights sleep we woke early and I heated up some water for our coffee while Anna took care of whatever woman need to take care of in the morning. We had prepared our sandwiches way back in El Calafate, so after a delightful breakfast of dry toasted bread/biscuit stuff and some jam, washed down with three cups of coffee, we set off for our hike. The hike we chose to do is called Loma del Pliegue Tumbado. It is the only day hike in the area that presents the opportunity for fantastic views of the two famous mountains in the area, they are the Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre. Fitz Roy is named after the captain of the HMS Beagle, the ship which Charles Darwin sailed on as he explored the world. The ... read more