Video Trip Report from Patagonia (El Chaltén Area, Argentina)
Oct 6, 2015, 4:48 am
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Join Date: Oct 2012
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Video Trip Report from Patagonia (El Chaltén Area, Argentina)
Hey guys! I am also doing a lot of video-diaries on my journeys. Sadly, it takes a long time to actually finish them, but here is the most recent one from my hikes around El Chaltén in the Argentinean part of Patagonia. Hope you like it! I will start to work on the second part soon 
A lot of stuff happened back in March 2015 during my two weeks of hiking in the El Chaltén region in the Argentinean portion of Patagonia. In this first part, you will see El Calafate, the hikes to Laguna de los Tres, Laguna Torres, Loma de las Pizarras and finally, the first half of the hike to Paso del Cuadrado until we got stuck in a snowstorm and had to put up an emergency shelter at Laguna Piedras Blanca.
(@Admins: Can you please embed the Video so it is shown directly here? Thanks! Until then, I linked the Vimeo video with the Screenshot)
And if you are interested in the details, check out my trip reports for each part of the video below. Click on the banners to see the pictures, I think putting them all in here would be too much so I hope its okay like this
El Calafate, Argentina
08/03/2015 After 126 days of hot climates starting in Mexico last year, it was now finally time to head down all the way to the southern tip of Argentina to enjoy the crisp air of Patagonia during fall season. I booked a flight from Bogotá to El Calafate with a short stop over in Buenos Aires. Finally arriving, huge mountain ranges in the background looked majestically and I couldn’t wait to get out there!
I originally had a long stop over in Buenos Aires, but thanks to the very nice lady in charge of Aerolineas Argentinas, I was booked onto an earlier flight to El Calafate and only had to wait at the Buenos Aires airport from 03:35 to 07:45, touching down in El Calafate with some turbulence at 11:05. As usual, I was not able to sleep on the plane and instead spent half an hour observing some pretty amazing display of thunderstorms below us. Finally setting foot in Patagonia felt a bit strange after all the hot, humid and tropical places I’ve been before. It was also much more expensive, paying 170$AR for a return shuttle airport-city for instance. The landscape was pretty flat and dry, with light blue lagoons scattered around town. After checking in to my hostel, I started to explore a bit and walked to Laguna Niméz. You have to pay to get in, but you can also just walk along the fence towards the lake and since the area is pretty small, you can actually see all the wildlife from there as well. At least for me it was okay and I was more focused on the awesome mountain range in the distance
After buying a used isolation mat for about 3€ from a guy who just returned from his hikes in El Chaltén, I was now trying to get there myself. Public transportation in Patagonia is very expensive and I wanted to try hitch hiking here. Unfortunately, I had to walk about 30 minutes from town to actually get to a good spot for hitch hiking just at the big round about near the police station. Two other guys been there as well and I didn’t even notice them at first because I stayed in front of the station while they waited behind it. There were barely any cars coming and after half an hour, I decided to stop the next bus at 13:15 – too bad the driver didn’t stop. After all, I am not in Guatemala and their chicken buses anymore Soon after my isolation mat nearly flew away in the strong Patagonian winds and I could barely catch it again, so I decided to walk back to town and wait for the evening bus. It’s not that I couldn’t afford it, unlike the other guys on the street. One of them apparently waited for 2 days already to get a ride and when I passed him in the bus about 5 hours later, he was still waiting there. Soon after I would arrive in the Patagonia’s trekking mecca of El Chaltén and writing about all the amazing hikes there will take me a few live updates for sure
El Chaltén & Laguna de los Tres, Argentina
11/03/2015 My second stop in Patagonia was El Chaltén, truly a paradise for hikers. I reserved two complete weeks for the immense amount of treks there, including the highlight to Paso del Viento. To start off though, I decided to head east first for a 3-day hike towards Paso del Cuadrado. Soon after arriving at Laguna de los Tres, I was forced to turn around… my camera stopped working and it would be a shame if I could only take pictures with my phone in this incredible piece of nature.
I arrived in El Chaltén at night after taking the late bus from El Calafate. Having a hostel recommendation from someone in my head, I was walking down the street all the way to the other end of town close to the starting point of the Fitz Roy hike. The cheap hostel I was looking for was easy to find but, unfortunately, already booked out! Just another minute walking up the street was another hostel called Hem Herhu for the same price of 100 pesos though, and it turned out to be a really great one. After finding a place to stay, the next thing to organize was a tent. Spending the first hours of the following day to walk around all the outdoor shops, I hoped to find a reasonable priced tent. The hikes I had planned high up in the mountains required a good one and those tents started with 140 pesos a day, which would result in a lot of money for my two weeks there. I ended up asking a girl working in a coffee shop if she might know someone who could give me a tent for a better price and it turned out that she had one herself, giving it to me for free! She insisted on not getting any money for it and I could even use it as long as I wanted, I was really lucky to run into her!
With the tent situation sorted, I could start buying the food for my first 3-day hike. The nearby shop was super expensive, but you don’t really have any choice down there. I fell in love with the Argentinian Dulce de leche pretty fast and got addicted, eating about 200g each day! Meeting a group of three girls packing up for their own hike randomly on the street, I was now also not on my own anymore and we decided to do the hike together. They were already done packing and went ahead while I was packing up myself. I eventually started the hike at 15:00 and reached Laguna Capri about 90 minutes later. A really nice lake with view on the Fitz Roy massif. Just as I was taking one of my countless Panorama shots, my Sony A6000 camera suddenly stopped working with the error message “Camera Error. Turn power off then on.” I first thought it was just temporary, but would soon after realize that it is actually broken and not something I can fix here. With less pictures to take now, I was walking faster as well and caught up with the three girls pretty fast.
We arrived at the camping spot pretty late and had some snacks. You can actually only camp on those dedicated spots here in the area, with some rangers patrolling as well. Compared to the huge amount of people that passed along the way, I was surprised to see only about 20 tents set up. Most of the hikers here are doing day hikes and return to El Chaltén before it gets dark. There was only a little bit of extra hiking to do between the camp and Laguna de los tres and we arrived pretty late at 20:30 after climbing up a rather steep mountain part for about an hour. It was pretty cloudly and started to become pretty dark, so we could not stay for a long time and went down again. Throw in some rain and slippery rocks and we found ourselves in complete darkness soon after! Using the moon light and phones to get back to camp, we very much enjoyed the “Nachtwanderung” through the night for about half an hour very much though, providing a very special atmosphere.
It was raining heavy the next morning and while the girls still needed some more sleep in the tent, I was going back to El Chaltén on my own as fast as I can to start a process that would hopefully help my still not working camera. There was actually one person that used to fixed cameras in town and after tracking him down by talking to the locals, I left my camera with him and hoped he could do some magic. In the meantime, I used the bad weather and bouldering mat of my hostel’s owner to do some bouldering just five minutes away. The huge boulder “La Vaca Muerte” was protected by some big trees, allowing me to even climb in the rain, even though I was pretty limited both because of my missing strength after months of no climbing and the fact that I was on my own and nobody could help spotting and moving the mat. It was great anyway and I was so happy to finally do some climbing again! And it would not be the last time in this area, but more on that in the upcoming Live Updates
Laguna Torre, Argentina
13/03/2015 After a failed attempt to fix my broken camera in El Chaltén, I went out on a hike to Laguna Torre with just the phone camera. The second most popular day hike after Fitz Roy was much less busy and we had great weather too! Just Cerro Torre was always covered in clouds sadly…
The second day in El Chaltén started off with checking all the internet posts and support mails in a desperate hope to somehow fix my camera. After exploiting all possible options, I eventually gave up and put a process together to at least get a new camera before heading off to Antarctica in less than two weeks; it was just not possible to go there without taking decent pictures and I decided to buy a new Sony A3000. It’s basically a less capable, bigger and much slower version of my old A6000. Putting all my trust into the good spirit for Couchsurfers, I sent 700 US$ to a strange person via Paypal and she bought the camera for me at the tax free Zona Austral in Punta Arenas, Chile. From there, she gave the camera to a friend who would spent the next three days on a ship to sail down to Ushuaia in Argentina. At the final destination, he would give the camera to my Couchsurfer and I actually got the camera exactly on the day my ship departed to Antarctica!! Patagonia pictures, however, would have to be shot with the low quality phone camera.
The 9km hike to Laguna Torre was very pleasant and I had good company in the two Julia’s, both equipped with an extremely positive and always-smiling attitude. The sun was also shining all day long and we had a lot of fun walking up to the camp spot. A few excellent viewpoints along the way made me missing my camera again, but the pictures from my camera turned out to be okay as long as the lighting conditions were good. We arrived at the nearly empty camp spot, set up our tents and cooked dinner. Julia 1 didn’t feel so well and rested in the tent while Julia 2 and myself headed out to the actual lagoon. It was getting dark and pretty cloudy as well and we could not really see a lot, especially not Cerro Torre. It was also extremely windy and we decided to only go half way around the rim of the lake after nearly being blown away from the now very strong wind.
After spending the night in the cozy tent, the girls had some problems waking up in the morning again and I started to head off to hike up to the top of one of the surrounding mountains: Loma de Las Pizarras. It was actually a really nice hike with great views and therefor I will tell you more about this part in the next live update
Loma de Las Pizarras, Argentina
14/03/2015 Hiking back from Laguna Torre offered me a little excursion that actually deserves it’s own live update: Climbing Loma de Las Pizarras! The peak granted me with a superb view and I could actually see a bit of Cerro Torre this time too. Some rainbows paired with huge winds that nearly blew me off my feet made up for a great experience.
I was on a mission. Having my broken camera in mind, I wanted to return to El Chaltén as soon as possible, but on the other hand I was standing at the entry point of the 1600m high Loma de las Pizarras and I could not resist the temptation to hike up there. Leaving my backpack behind in the woods, I quickly ascended through the forest and could not find the actual path. Instead, I was making up my own one as there was only one direction anyway: Up! Soon I would get out of the forest and the first views presented themselves, some pretty nice panoramas including a rainbow. The further I got up, the windier it became and instead of trees, I was now next to a few big boulders and walking mainly on loose scree.
Soon after I would arrive at the top, looking down at the glacier and up to Fitz Roy. Cerro Torre was still hiding in the clouds but I could tell that I would just need a little change of weather to finally see it. After waiting in the extremely windy summit, sometimes sitting down on my butt because the wind would have thrown me off feet otherwise, I eventually saw Cerro Torre for a split second before it disappeared in the clouds again. I would have another chance to finally see him on another hike. For now, I had to get back because it was already getting late and I still wanted to take care of my camera in town. First though, I had to get down the mountain and find my backpack again!
It actually turned out to be quiet a challenge, because everything just looked the same in the forest and I ended up using my GPS tracks to retrace my route and finally found the backpack to drink the water I desperately needed. Speeding up again, I made it back to the hostel and analysed my GPS data for the first time, using the Android App OruxMaps. The complete path from the camp at Augostini to the summit of Loma de las Pizarras and back to the hostel took 3 hours, 46 minutes while walking 17.64km with an altitude gain of 1082m and altitude loss of 1288m!
Laguna Piedras Blanca, Argentina
19/03/2015 After some rainy days in El Chaltén, I used the upcoming good weather window to start what was supposed to be a four day trek to Paso del Cuadrado. Joined by Rene from the hostel, we knew that the first day would still be rainy; we didn’t know what kind of adventure we would be heading into. Soon after leaving the beaten path, we found ourselves in the middle of a snow storm in freezing temperatures, forcing us to set up an emergency fire at Laguna Piedras Blanca and actually staying the night there as well. For the complete story, keep on reading!
A lot of rain forced me to remain in El Chaltén for a total of four days and since Rene had no climbing and only little trekking experience, we decided to skip my original plan of tackling Paso del Viento and instead headed towards Paso del Cuadrado, another challenging hike compared to the simple day hikes in the area. Leaving at 12:00, we started to walk in the rain and knew that this wouldn’t change for the rest of the day. It would take us one day just to get closer to the area of our destination anyway and the forecast looked great for all days coming up afterwards, so we decided to start the hike in the rain, allowing Rene to continue his hitch hiking journey without delays. The hike was rather boring for me; we could not see a lot in these weather conditions and I had also just returned from the day hike to the Fitz Roy a few days before in perfect weather. The rain turned into snow and I could witness how the C.B. Poincenot camp looks covered in white, it was a pretty cool sight! We used the camp to have lunch and our hands were freezing already. Things got worse when we walked north along the rocky path next to the river towards Laguna Piedras Blanca. Faced with an now extremely lower temperature, we were now covered in thick snow and quickly soaked completely wet. Getting in the gloves was now an extremely hard task and we knew the situation actually became a bit serious now. We would have to make a decision between returning back to El Chaltén or keep on going, having in mind that the sun will come out the next day. Obviously, we chose the latter…
Freezing our asses off, we kept on walking along the river to find shelter at one of the huge boulders at Laguna Piedras Blanca. Taking pictures was a nearly impossible task now as the thick snow flakes constantly messed up the touchscreen of my phone. Luckily, we walked right into a massive boulder of at least 20 meter in height, offering natural protection from the wind and snow from 3 sides. Once we stopped walking, our already cold bodies started to freeze even more and we had to do something about it. Some people left dry fire wood behind here and even though it is not allowed, we just had to get a fire going to warm up and re-evaluate the situation. Walking back for hours in these conditions would have been very unpleasant. We quickly gathered some tinder and even brought a lighter and toilet paper, making the process of getting the fire up very easy… if we could only use our fingers!! At this point, our hands were so cold that Rene was not able to use his fingers at all anymore. Luckily, I still had some energy in them left and could get the fire going, finally offering us the desperately needed warmth.
After enjoying the fire for a while, I went out to explore the nearby area and also climbed up to one of the hills to get a better overview. It was still snowing a lot and I could not see too much, not even the lake that should be very close to us now. At least I was able to find enough dry wood to keep the fire going for a while. Returning back to our little camp, we started to think about what to do. It was already getting late now and we would have another two hours of walking to reach the next camp, something that was out of question considering the fact that the amount of snow actually increased with time. So we decided to call the boulder our home for this night and aligned the sleeping bags next to the fire to sleep there without setting up the tent. It was actually a really great experience in the end and I enjoyed it a lot. Rene gained back his good spirits as well the longer he could warm up on the fire. We shared some stories, had some rum and eventually fell asleep next to the fire after a nice meal.
Waking up the next morning was an experience I will never forget. The forecast was right (as usual on the norwegian site yr.no) and all the clouds disappeared, leaving us with a perfect clear sky. The sun did not yet rise up over the mountains around us, but for the first time we could see Monte Fitz Roy in the background with the first rays of sunshine on it’s face. Spirits were high and we wasted no time to climb up to the viewpoint to finally see the lake as well. The climb was pretty steep and some parts were still covered with ice from last night, but overall it was not a big deal to get up there. The views were amazing and having the sun in my face again made me look positively into the future. We enjoyed the moment for a while and then started to walk back to our temporary camp, it was time to pack up again and continue our hike towards Paso del Cuadrado with a slight delay. More on that in the next update
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Thats it - I hope you like it!
Cheers,
Chris
A lot of stuff happened back in March 2015 during my two weeks of hiking in the El Chaltén region in the Argentinean portion of Patagonia. In this first part, you will see El Calafate, the hikes to Laguna de los Tres, Laguna Torres, Loma de las Pizarras and finally, the first half of the hike to Paso del Cuadrado until we got stuck in a snowstorm and had to put up an emergency shelter at Laguna Piedras Blanca.
(@Admins: Can you please embed the Video so it is shown directly here? Thanks! Until then, I linked the Vimeo video with the Screenshot)
And if you are interested in the details, check out my trip reports for each part of the video below. Click on the banners to see the pictures, I think putting them all in here would be too much so I hope its okay like this
El Calafate, Argentina
08/03/2015 After 126 days of hot climates starting in Mexico last year, it was now finally time to head down all the way to the southern tip of Argentina to enjoy the crisp air of Patagonia during fall season. I booked a flight from Bogotá to El Calafate with a short stop over in Buenos Aires. Finally arriving, huge mountain ranges in the background looked majestically and I couldn’t wait to get out there!
I originally had a long stop over in Buenos Aires, but thanks to the very nice lady in charge of Aerolineas Argentinas, I was booked onto an earlier flight to El Calafate and only had to wait at the Buenos Aires airport from 03:35 to 07:45, touching down in El Calafate with some turbulence at 11:05. As usual, I was not able to sleep on the plane and instead spent half an hour observing some pretty amazing display of thunderstorms below us. Finally setting foot in Patagonia felt a bit strange after all the hot, humid and tropical places I’ve been before. It was also much more expensive, paying 170$AR for a return shuttle airport-city for instance. The landscape was pretty flat and dry, with light blue lagoons scattered around town. After checking in to my hostel, I started to explore a bit and walked to Laguna Niméz. You have to pay to get in, but you can also just walk along the fence towards the lake and since the area is pretty small, you can actually see all the wildlife from there as well. At least for me it was okay and I was more focused on the awesome mountain range in the distance
After buying a used isolation mat for about 3€ from a guy who just returned from his hikes in El Chaltén, I was now trying to get there myself. Public transportation in Patagonia is very expensive and I wanted to try hitch hiking here. Unfortunately, I had to walk about 30 minutes from town to actually get to a good spot for hitch hiking just at the big round about near the police station. Two other guys been there as well and I didn’t even notice them at first because I stayed in front of the station while they waited behind it. There were barely any cars coming and after half an hour, I decided to stop the next bus at 13:15 – too bad the driver didn’t stop. After all, I am not in Guatemala and their chicken buses anymore
Soon after my isolation mat nearly flew away in the strong Patagonian winds and I could barely catch it again, so I decided to walk back to town and wait for the evening bus. It’s not that I couldn’t afford it, unlike the other guys on the street. One of them apparently waited for 2 days already to get a ride and when I passed him in the bus about 5 hours later, he was still waiting there. Soon after I would arrive in the Patagonia’s trekking mecca of El Chaltén and writing about all the amazing hikes there will take me a few live updates for sure El Chaltén & Laguna de los Tres, Argentina
11/03/2015 My second stop in Patagonia was El Chaltén, truly a paradise for hikers. I reserved two complete weeks for the immense amount of treks there, including the highlight to Paso del Viento. To start off though, I decided to head east first for a 3-day hike towards Paso del Cuadrado. Soon after arriving at Laguna de los Tres, I was forced to turn around… my camera stopped working and it would be a shame if I could only take pictures with my phone in this incredible piece of nature.
I arrived in El Chaltén at night after taking the late bus from El Calafate. Having a hostel recommendation from someone in my head, I was walking down the street all the way to the other end of town close to the starting point of the Fitz Roy hike. The cheap hostel I was looking for was easy to find but, unfortunately, already booked out! Just another minute walking up the street was another hostel called Hem Herhu for the same price of 100 pesos though, and it turned out to be a really great one. After finding a place to stay, the next thing to organize was a tent. Spending the first hours of the following day to walk around all the outdoor shops, I hoped to find a reasonable priced tent. The hikes I had planned high up in the mountains required a good one and those tents started with 140 pesos a day, which would result in a lot of money for my two weeks there. I ended up asking a girl working in a coffee shop if she might know someone who could give me a tent for a better price and it turned out that she had one herself, giving it to me for free! She insisted on not getting any money for it and I could even use it as long as I wanted, I was really lucky to run into her!
With the tent situation sorted, I could start buying the food for my first 3-day hike. The nearby shop was super expensive, but you don’t really have any choice down there. I fell in love with the Argentinian Dulce de leche pretty fast and got addicted, eating about 200g each day! Meeting a group of three girls packing up for their own hike randomly on the street, I was now also not on my own anymore and we decided to do the hike together. They were already done packing and went ahead while I was packing up myself. I eventually started the hike at 15:00 and reached Laguna Capri about 90 minutes later. A really nice lake with view on the Fitz Roy massif. Just as I was taking one of my countless Panorama shots, my Sony A6000 camera suddenly stopped working with the error message “Camera Error. Turn power off then on.” I first thought it was just temporary, but would soon after realize that it is actually broken and not something I can fix here. With less pictures to take now, I was walking faster as well and caught up with the three girls pretty fast.
We arrived at the camping spot pretty late and had some snacks. You can actually only camp on those dedicated spots here in the area, with some rangers patrolling as well. Compared to the huge amount of people that passed along the way, I was surprised to see only about 20 tents set up. Most of the hikers here are doing day hikes and return to El Chaltén before it gets dark. There was only a little bit of extra hiking to do between the camp and Laguna de los tres and we arrived pretty late at 20:30 after climbing up a rather steep mountain part for about an hour. It was pretty cloudly and started to become pretty dark, so we could not stay for a long time and went down again. Throw in some rain and slippery rocks and we found ourselves in complete darkness soon after! Using the moon light and phones to get back to camp, we very much enjoyed the “Nachtwanderung” through the night for about half an hour very much though, providing a very special atmosphere.
It was raining heavy the next morning and while the girls still needed some more sleep in the tent, I was going back to El Chaltén on my own as fast as I can to start a process that would hopefully help my still not working camera. There was actually one person that used to fixed cameras in town and after tracking him down by talking to the locals, I left my camera with him and hoped he could do some magic. In the meantime, I used the bad weather and bouldering mat of my hostel’s owner to do some bouldering just five minutes away. The huge boulder “La Vaca Muerte” was protected by some big trees, allowing me to even climb in the rain, even though I was pretty limited both because of my missing strength after months of no climbing and the fact that I was on my own and nobody could help spotting and moving the mat. It was great anyway and I was so happy to finally do some climbing again! And it would not be the last time in this area, but more on that in the upcoming Live Updates
Laguna Torre, Argentina
13/03/2015 After a failed attempt to fix my broken camera in El Chaltén, I went out on a hike to Laguna Torre with just the phone camera. The second most popular day hike after Fitz Roy was much less busy and we had great weather too! Just Cerro Torre was always covered in clouds sadly…
The second day in El Chaltén started off with checking all the internet posts and support mails in a desperate hope to somehow fix my camera. After exploiting all possible options, I eventually gave up and put a process together to at least get a new camera before heading off to Antarctica in less than two weeks; it was just not possible to go there without taking decent pictures and I decided to buy a new Sony A3000. It’s basically a less capable, bigger and much slower version of my old A6000. Putting all my trust into the good spirit for Couchsurfers, I sent 700 US$ to a strange person via Paypal and she bought the camera for me at the tax free Zona Austral in Punta Arenas, Chile. From there, she gave the camera to a friend who would spent the next three days on a ship to sail down to Ushuaia in Argentina. At the final destination, he would give the camera to my Couchsurfer and I actually got the camera exactly on the day my ship departed to Antarctica!!
Patagonia pictures, however, would have to be shot with the low quality phone camera.The 9km hike to Laguna Torre was very pleasant and I had good company in the two Julia’s, both equipped with an extremely positive and always-smiling attitude. The sun was also shining all day long and we had a lot of fun walking up to the camp spot. A few excellent viewpoints along the way made me missing my camera again, but the pictures from my camera turned out to be okay as long as the lighting conditions were good. We arrived at the nearly empty camp spot, set up our tents and cooked dinner. Julia 1 didn’t feel so well and rested in the tent while Julia 2 and myself headed out to the actual lagoon. It was getting dark and pretty cloudy as well and we could not really see a lot, especially not Cerro Torre. It was also extremely windy and we decided to only go half way around the rim of the lake after nearly being blown away from the now very strong wind.
After spending the night in the cozy tent, the girls had some problems waking up in the morning again and I started to head off to hike up to the top of one of the surrounding mountains: Loma de Las Pizarras. It was actually a really nice hike with great views and therefor I will tell you more about this part in the next live update
Loma de Las Pizarras, Argentina
14/03/2015 Hiking back from Laguna Torre offered me a little excursion that actually deserves it’s own live update: Climbing Loma de Las Pizarras! The peak granted me with a superb view and I could actually see a bit of Cerro Torre this time too. Some rainbows paired with huge winds that nearly blew me off my feet made up for a great experience.
I was on a mission. Having my broken camera in mind, I wanted to return to El Chaltén as soon as possible, but on the other hand I was standing at the entry point of the 1600m high Loma de las Pizarras and I could not resist the temptation to hike up there. Leaving my backpack behind in the woods, I quickly ascended through the forest and could not find the actual path. Instead, I was making up my own one as there was only one direction anyway: Up! Soon I would get out of the forest and the first views presented themselves, some pretty nice panoramas including a rainbow. The further I got up, the windier it became and instead of trees, I was now next to a few big boulders and walking mainly on loose scree.
Soon after I would arrive at the top, looking down at the glacier and up to Fitz Roy. Cerro Torre was still hiding in the clouds but I could tell that I would just need a little change of weather to finally see it. After waiting in the extremely windy summit, sometimes sitting down on my butt because the wind would have thrown me off feet otherwise, I eventually saw Cerro Torre for a split second before it disappeared in the clouds again. I would have another chance to finally see him on another hike. For now, I had to get back because it was already getting late and I still wanted to take care of my camera in town. First though, I had to get down the mountain and find my backpack again!
It actually turned out to be quiet a challenge, because everything just looked the same in the forest and I ended up using my GPS tracks to retrace my route and finally found the backpack to drink the water I desperately needed. Speeding up again, I made it back to the hostel and analysed my GPS data for the first time, using the Android App OruxMaps. The complete path from the camp at Augostini to the summit of Loma de las Pizarras and back to the hostel took 3 hours, 46 minutes while walking 17.64km with an altitude gain of 1082m and altitude loss of 1288m!
Laguna Piedras Blanca, Argentina
19/03/2015 After some rainy days in El Chaltén, I used the upcoming good weather window to start what was supposed to be a four day trek to Paso del Cuadrado. Joined by Rene from the hostel, we knew that the first day would still be rainy; we didn’t know what kind of adventure we would be heading into. Soon after leaving the beaten path, we found ourselves in the middle of a snow storm in freezing temperatures, forcing us to set up an emergency fire at Laguna Piedras Blanca and actually staying the night there as well. For the complete story, keep on reading!
A lot of rain forced me to remain in El Chaltén for a total of four days and since Rene had no climbing and only little trekking experience, we decided to skip my original plan of tackling Paso del Viento and instead headed towards Paso del Cuadrado, another challenging hike compared to the simple day hikes in the area. Leaving at 12:00, we started to walk in the rain and knew that this wouldn’t change for the rest of the day. It would take us one day just to get closer to the area of our destination anyway and the forecast looked great for all days coming up afterwards, so we decided to start the hike in the rain, allowing Rene to continue his hitch hiking journey without delays. The hike was rather boring for me; we could not see a lot in these weather conditions and I had also just returned from the day hike to the Fitz Roy a few days before in perfect weather. The rain turned into snow and I could witness how the C.B. Poincenot camp looks covered in white, it was a pretty cool sight! We used the camp to have lunch and our hands were freezing already. Things got worse when we walked north along the rocky path next to the river towards Laguna Piedras Blanca. Faced with an now extremely lower temperature, we were now covered in thick snow and quickly soaked completely wet. Getting in the gloves was now an extremely hard task and we knew the situation actually became a bit serious now. We would have to make a decision between returning back to El Chaltén or keep on going, having in mind that the sun will come out the next day. Obviously, we chose the latter…
Freezing our asses off, we kept on walking along the river to find shelter at one of the huge boulders at Laguna Piedras Blanca. Taking pictures was a nearly impossible task now as the thick snow flakes constantly messed up the touchscreen of my phone. Luckily, we walked right into a massive boulder of at least 20 meter in height, offering natural protection from the wind and snow from 3 sides. Once we stopped walking, our already cold bodies started to freeze even more and we had to do something about it. Some people left dry fire wood behind here and even though it is not allowed, we just had to get a fire going to warm up and re-evaluate the situation. Walking back for hours in these conditions would have been very unpleasant. We quickly gathered some tinder and even brought a lighter and toilet paper, making the process of getting the fire up very easy… if we could only use our fingers!! At this point, our hands were so cold that Rene was not able to use his fingers at all anymore. Luckily, I still had some energy in them left and could get the fire going, finally offering us the desperately needed warmth.
After enjoying the fire for a while, I went out to explore the nearby area and also climbed up to one of the hills to get a better overview. It was still snowing a lot and I could not see too much, not even the lake that should be very close to us now. At least I was able to find enough dry wood to keep the fire going for a while. Returning back to our little camp, we started to think about what to do. It was already getting late now and we would have another two hours of walking to reach the next camp, something that was out of question considering the fact that the amount of snow actually increased with time. So we decided to call the boulder our home for this night and aligned the sleeping bags next to the fire to sleep there without setting up the tent. It was actually a really great experience in the end and I enjoyed it a lot. Rene gained back his good spirits as well the longer he could warm up on the fire. We shared some stories, had some rum and eventually fell asleep next to the fire after a nice meal.
Waking up the next morning was an experience I will never forget. The forecast was right (as usual on the norwegian site yr.no) and all the clouds disappeared, leaving us with a perfect clear sky. The sun did not yet rise up over the mountains around us, but for the first time we could see Monte Fitz Roy in the background with the first rays of sunshine on it’s face. Spirits were high and we wasted no time to climb up to the viewpoint to finally see the lake as well. The climb was pretty steep and some parts were still covered with ice from last night, but overall it was not a big deal to get up there. The views were amazing and having the sun in my face again made me look positively into the future. We enjoyed the moment for a while and then started to walk back to our temporary camp, it was time to pack up again and continue our hike towards Paso del Cuadrado with a slight delay. More on that in the next update
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Thats it - I hope you like it!
Cheers,
Chris
Last edited by Chris1984; Oct 6, 2015 at 4:54 am
Oct 6, 2015, 7:45 pm
#6
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: ORD/MDW
Programs: AA EXP, DL-Plat, WN-CP | Hotels: Choice-Gld, IHG-Plt, Rad-Gld, HH-Dia, Hyatt-Glob, Marriott-LtPlt
Posts: 2,889
Thanks for posting ^...it brought back some great memories of my honeymoon, which included 2 nights in El Chalten, 2 nights in El Calafate and 2 nights in Torres del Paine.
It is truly a beautiful area!
It is truly a beautiful area!
Oct 7, 2015, 4:03 am
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 762
I went to Torres del Paine as well and you would need to do much more hiking over there including several nights sleeping in a tent. In El Chaltén, however, you can base yourself in one of the many hotels/hostels in town and then just do day trips, making it preferable for someone who is not a "big hiker" in my opinion.
Oct 9, 2015, 4:49 am
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 762
Does anyone know if I can embed Vimeo vids in here directly?
Test:
https://vimeo.com/137298093
(just copying the URL doesnt work, maybe only for Youtube)
Test:
https://vimeo.com/137298093
(just copying the URL doesnt work, maybe only for Youtube)
Last edited by Chris1984; Oct 9, 2015 at 8:26 am
Nov 24, 2015, 8:05 am
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 762
Hey guys! I finished the second part now
https://vimeo.com/138989305 (Just pasting the URL still doesnt seem to work, so please click on the picture below to see the video!)
The day after our emergency fire at snowy Laguna Piedras Blanca offered us a lot of sun and perfect hiking conditions. Rene decided to return to El Chaltén while I was starting the steep ascend to Paso del Cuadrado, eventually spending another freezing und unforgettable night in the snow at 1800m. Leaving the Fitz Roy Skyline in perfect weather conditions behind, I completed my last hikes to Mirador de la Loma, Los Cóndores & Las Águilas before setting an end to my trip in Argentina’s Patagonia by visiting the breathtaking glacier Perito Moreno near El Calafate. I also squeezed in some of the Bouldering from Ushuaia
Paso del Cuadrado, Argentina
20/03/2015 We had an adventurous last night sleeping underneath a huge boulder during heavy snowfall and were now set to make our way towards Paso del Cuadrado in perfect sunny weather, once more correctly predicted by the forecast. Unclear if we could make it to the top of the 1850m high mountain pass, we were in good spirits and eager to explore the more distant hiking regions around El Chaltén.
After checking out the lagoon at Piedras Blanca for sunrise, we packed up our stuff and were blessed with sunshine on our way back to the rocky river valley of Río Blanco. Soon after, the path turned left towards a forest. We were curious of how the situation at the upcoming camp site would be, as they are charging 300 pesos (around 30€) for people just to pass through! Obviously, we didn’t like that and planned to use another path to avoid them. Hugo from the hostel told me about it and said that it’s usually no problem. As we got closer, we passed two signs listing the prices to stay or just pass the camp. For some reason though, we were not able to find the shortcut and ended up walking right through the camp site – no one noticed us and we could pass without paying! Haha.
We entered a huge open valley surrounded by big mountains on both sides and it just looked and felt amazing! For the first time I had this “Wow, I’m in Patagonia” feeling as we were alone and far away from all the day trip tourists. This was exactly what I was looking for. Crossing the big valley took a little while and I was constantly looking around to absorb the visual impressions around me. We actually passed the steep path to climb up to Paso del Cuadrado on our left side, because we wanted to check out the area at Lago Eléctrico first.
The hike to the lake was really enjoyable with lots of clean water along the way in the small rivers. The lake itself was also really nice, a huge rock sitting in the middle. There were some hiking paths to get to the other side of the lake too, but our goal was to go up high, turning left to reach a tiny lake which name I sadly can’t remember now. We certainly had a great view there, looking up to Fitz Roy from a rather unusual perspective. Rene at this point decided to head back to El Chaltén suddenly, aiming to hitch hike the next day and keen to get some rest from our cold and snowy start of the hike. I was left alone and decided to climb up the mountain next to the tiny lake a bit, eventually being stopped by some ice blocks falling off a frozen waterfall on both sides, giving me only one direction to go: Back to the lake. It was a great view up there though and I could get a glimpse of some glaciers that you can’t see from below.
Heading back towards the starting point of the steep climb towards Paso del Cuadrado, I actually passed Rene again, who obviously had to take it a bit slower on his way back. I crossed the valley towards the steep path and met a couple from austria that attempted to summit the pass yesterday. “There is to much snow up there”, they said, making it impossible to reach the top right now. There would also be another group of 3 guys up there right now, waiting for better conditions to summit the pass. I wanted to see how far I could get and decided to continue, hoping that the sun would keep on shining. Climbing up the path was pretty hard physically, as it was really steep the whole way through. Once I reached the 1500m mark, the first snow started to appear on the ground, increasingly getting more as I climbed up higher. The couple from earlier told me that there was a big black rock that would be perfect to set up cam and. I still had enough time until sunset and kept on climbing up…
Reaching something that kind of looked like the rock they described, but wasn’t black, I decided to keep on walking up a bit more to get a better overview and hopefully spot it. Snow now covered the ground and I was already at around 1600m when I realised that the rock I spotted earlier must have been the one. I could not spot any other rocks in my nearby surroundings and the slope got steeper and steeper. I was also getting quiet tired now from carrying the backpack with all my camping equipment and could not wait to find a spot to set up my tent! The thought of hiking back down again to the rock after half an hour of strenuousness uphill climb did not make me happy, so I kept on going up in a desperate search for a camp spot. I would eventually run into the other group, I thought, but the now boot-deep snow made it hard to find the path and it was slowly getting dark now as well, so I had no time to lose and kept on going.
I did not expect so much snow to be up here and quickly lost hope to actually summit the pass. I needed to focus on finding a good spot to set up camp now, because it would certainly get freezing cold up here at around 1700m now. Pushing myself up higher, I eventually reached a spot that some other people used as a camp before, judging by the circle of rocks that would perfectly fit a tent in between them. There was a big boulder on one side for some wind protection and generally a good spot, so I decided to use it as a camp. First though, I needed to stomp down all the snow in order to be set up the tent on top of it. It took me a little while to do so, but at least it also kept me warm at the same time. Once I set up the tent, it became dark pretty fast and I had to wrap everything I had in order to keep myself warm. It got really cold in the night and I was actually freezing for the first time ever in a tent; my sleeping bag is not as good as it used to be! I got used to the cold though and eventually fell asleep after going out for a last pee around 1AM, looking at one of the most amazing night sky full of stars I have ever seen in my life. Sadly, there was no way to capture it with the camera of my phone…
The next morning greeted me with sunshine again and I woke up just for the first rays of light shining on Fitz Roy’s back side. It was still freezing cold and I had to do some exercises to warm myself up while enjoying the amazing views around me. I would sadly not be able to make it up to the pass, just about 200m higher from my current position. There was just too much snow and I did not want to risk it without having proper equipment. So instead, I was walking back without ever meeting the other group that was supposed to be up here. It was still totally worth all the effort and a trek I will never forget!
On my way back, I found the path to bypass the camp this time and could enjoyed all the landscapes in great sunny conditions. Passing Piedras Blanca again, I would soon find myself at the bridge close to the Fitz Roy viewpoint and was instantly thrown back into the mad amount of day tour tourists – something I really did not miss! This time though, passing the same path back towards El Chaltén for the third time now, I had insanely good weather and just had to take some more pictures of the famous Fitz Roy skyline – I wish I had my camera back then but luckily some of the phone pictures turned out to be nice too! It was just a perfect way to end this hike, which was packed with adventure and amazing moments that I find hard to put into text actually, it’s something you just have to see with your own eyes… My time in El Chaltén was not over though and after getting back to my favorite hostel Hem Heru, I got ready for the next hikes.
Mirador de la Loma (plus Los Cóndores & Las Águilas), Argentina
22/03/2015 I’ve had experienced some truly exciting days on the hike to Paso del Cuadrado, but was still not just yet finished in El Chaltén. After some more bouldering and a really amazing Argentinean Asado in the hostel’s garden, I started my last hikes. While doing the first one to Mirador de la Loma and it’s fantastic views on my own, I was once again joined by the two Julias to summit the easy viewpoints of Los Cóndores & Las Águilas, offering less spectacular, but still very nice views on El Chaltén.
Following my typical El Chaltén eating routine, I once again had masses of Dulce de Leche for breakfast and even continued eating it at the point I ran out of bread – I just loved it so much I guess! I also bought the same food again for the last hikes, basically a lot of bread, cheese and salami. This time, I was packed light and only carried some food for the six hour hike to Mirador de la Loma. I left at noon and was hoping to return for football at 15:30. The first part of the trip would lead me to towards Paso del Viento, which was my main goal here in the area but sadly, due to the weather conditions, not possible to do on my own. After about one hour of walking uphill, I left the Paso del Viento path and turned to the right, heading into a forest. The hike until there was pretty boring, but just when I left the forest again, I could finally see Fitz Roy in the Background from a different perspective and was extremely lucky with the weather too.
Not long after, I would head into another forest, constantly hiking uphill. There were a lot of people around here, mainly Asians as they hiked up in a huge group, and I passed all of them on my mission to get back to football. I think I was walking as fast as possible before you would have to define it as running Leaving the forest again, I was walking uphill through some scree now, eventually reaching the end of the trail. What I saw when I reached the viewpoint was just amazing – I had a clear view on Fitz Roy, all the valleys, lakes and hiking paths I used before and most importantly: I could see Cerro Torre for the first time! After all those days in El Chaltén, I was so happy to finally see him as well and it was impressive sight. Too bad it’s so hard to climb this thing as it was really tempting.
I decided not to go up to the highest point of the nearby summit, which would take about another half hour extra walking and apparently, the view from there would be kind of the same according to Hugo from the hostel. I spent around one hour at the Mirador though to enjoy the landscape to the fullest before I started to hike back to town. Probably breaking a lot of speed records, I made it back way before the football starts and could enjoy a nice warm shower first. It was actually my last day here in the hostel and I really loved this place, making it a bit hard to leave. If you ever make it to El Chaltén, please check out Hem Heru and say hello to Hugo ;-)
One last hike was still to be completed though and both of the Julias joined me once again for a fun hike to Miradores Los Cóndores & Las Águilas. You can easily combine both of them and do it in about two hours, offering nice views along the vast fields close to the Patagonian ice field. It was super windy up there as well and as usual, the weather was good too. Other than the four-day bad weather window that I used to do some bouldering, I was always lucky down here! As hard as it was, it was now time for me to leave El Chaltén and I wanted to give hitch hiking a try again, just like about the ten other people per day here! It was just very expensive to use the bus here and while I failed to hitch hike from El Calafate to El Chaltén, doing it the opposite way now was much more easier, thanks to the smaller size of El Chaltén. The first car actually picked me up after just a minute of waiting!
The older man worked in El Chaltén and was on the way back home, could not speak any English at all but was a really nice guy in general. We somehow communicated in my broken Spanish and I could finally, on my last day, see the famous view from the road looking back to the Fitz Roy Skyline. I took a quick picture from the car as I didn’t want to ask him to stop and I only had my crap phone camera anyway, but this picture will always remind me of the great landscapes in this part of Patagonia and I’m happy to have it now. My next stop was the famous Perito Moreno Glacier near El Calafate and I will tell you all about that in the following Live Update :-)
Glacier Perito Moreno, Argentina
23/03/2015 I was finished with all the hikes in El Chaltén, but had one more item on my bucket list near close-by El Calafate: Glacier Perito Moreno, one of the few growing glaciers in Patagonia. I knew it would be super touristy, but everyone I’ve met told me to go there nevertheless and I was not disappointed to do so. It was a perfect sunny day and the temperatures caused a lot of huge ice blocks to fall of the roughly 74m high glacier. You can see one of those video clips in this live update, while the complete video will come in a couple of months.
My bus to Perito Moreno left at 08:30 in the morning, costing 300 Pesos for a roundtrip. Not cheap, but I slowly got used to the prices in Patagonia. I left the bus at 10:00 at the first stop, starting to walk my way up towards the second bus stop, which is located at the Main entrance including a Restaurant and other touristic stuff. I think I don’t have to mention that Perito Moreno is VERY touristic, especially lots of Asian people that I didn’t really see in El Chaltén for instance; guess they are just coming down here to see the glacier. One interesting fact about the glacier is that it is one of the very few growing glaciers, advancing about 2 meters each day! I just wonder how long it will take until they have to built a new viewing platform…
The park offers various hiking trails and you can easily spend four hours here walking all of them and constantly stare at the glacier whenever it bursts off another piece of ice, making some really cool cracking sounds first. It is in fact a very spectacular view, especially looking over the glacier from one of the higher viewpoints. First though, I explored the lower parts and always ran into the same people again. I was always ready with my phone camera and shot tons of movies, hoping to capture a bit of the action live.
I was lucky to do so twice, once in the lower slopes and once in the higher ones (see the video above). It was pretty impressive to see those nearly 80m high Icebergs falling off and a complete different experience to my trip in Greenland and the Eqi Glacier, which you can check out here. Perito Moreno was smaller, but had much more action and it was constantly cracking down somewhere. You are also able to get much closer and I was especially lucky with the relatively hot weather.
I finished the upper and lower walks and then walked towards the end to see the glacier from a different perspective. I found myself a bit further away from the glacier then and could not see so much action anymore. It was still nice to see everything from this angle with the surrounding mountains on both sides. Heading back up, I was waiting for one more major “breakdown” of an iceberg with a nice motive of all the people staring at the lower slopes, but sadly nothing happened. I now spent over four hours here and it was time to head back towards the Restaurant, where the bus would pick me up again at 14:30 and drive me back to El Calafate. Next up was my flight to Ushuaia, followed by my long awaited cruise to Antarctica to see even more ice bergs
https://vimeo.com/138989305 (Just pasting the URL still doesnt seem to work, so please click on the picture below to see the video!)
The day after our emergency fire at snowy Laguna Piedras Blanca offered us a lot of sun and perfect hiking conditions. Rene decided to return to El Chaltén while I was starting the steep ascend to Paso del Cuadrado, eventually spending another freezing und unforgettable night in the snow at 1800m. Leaving the Fitz Roy Skyline in perfect weather conditions behind, I completed my last hikes to Mirador de la Loma, Los Cóndores & Las Águilas before setting an end to my trip in Argentina’s Patagonia by visiting the breathtaking glacier Perito Moreno near El Calafate. I also squeezed in some of the Bouldering from Ushuaia
Paso del Cuadrado, Argentina
20/03/2015 We had an adventurous last night sleeping underneath a huge boulder during heavy snowfall and were now set to make our way towards Paso del Cuadrado in perfect sunny weather, once more correctly predicted by the forecast. Unclear if we could make it to the top of the 1850m high mountain pass, we were in good spirits and eager to explore the more distant hiking regions around El Chaltén.
After checking out the lagoon at Piedras Blanca for sunrise, we packed up our stuff and were blessed with sunshine on our way back to the rocky river valley of Río Blanco. Soon after, the path turned left towards a forest. We were curious of how the situation at the upcoming camp site would be, as they are charging 300 pesos (around 30€) for people just to pass through! Obviously, we didn’t like that and planned to use another path to avoid them. Hugo from the hostel told me about it and said that it’s usually no problem. As we got closer, we passed two signs listing the prices to stay or just pass the camp. For some reason though, we were not able to find the shortcut and ended up walking right through the camp site – no one noticed us and we could pass without paying! Haha.
We entered a huge open valley surrounded by big mountains on both sides and it just looked and felt amazing! For the first time I had this “Wow, I’m in Patagonia” feeling as we were alone and far away from all the day trip tourists. This was exactly what I was looking for. Crossing the big valley took a little while and I was constantly looking around to absorb the visual impressions around me. We actually passed the steep path to climb up to Paso del Cuadrado on our left side, because we wanted to check out the area at Lago Eléctrico first.
The hike to the lake was really enjoyable with lots of clean water along the way in the small rivers. The lake itself was also really nice, a huge rock sitting in the middle. There were some hiking paths to get to the other side of the lake too, but our goal was to go up high, turning left to reach a tiny lake which name I sadly can’t remember now. We certainly had a great view there, looking up to Fitz Roy from a rather unusual perspective. Rene at this point decided to head back to El Chaltén suddenly, aiming to hitch hike the next day and keen to get some rest from our cold and snowy start of the hike. I was left alone and decided to climb up the mountain next to the tiny lake a bit, eventually being stopped by some ice blocks falling off a frozen waterfall on both sides, giving me only one direction to go: Back to the lake. It was a great view up there though and I could get a glimpse of some glaciers that you can’t see from below.
Heading back towards the starting point of the steep climb towards Paso del Cuadrado, I actually passed Rene again, who obviously had to take it a bit slower on his way back. I crossed the valley towards the steep path and met a couple from austria that attempted to summit the pass yesterday. “There is to much snow up there”, they said, making it impossible to reach the top right now. There would also be another group of 3 guys up there right now, waiting for better conditions to summit the pass. I wanted to see how far I could get and decided to continue, hoping that the sun would keep on shining. Climbing up the path was pretty hard physically, as it was really steep the whole way through. Once I reached the 1500m mark, the first snow started to appear on the ground, increasingly getting more as I climbed up higher. The couple from earlier told me that there was a big black rock that would be perfect to set up cam and. I still had enough time until sunset and kept on climbing up…
Reaching something that kind of looked like the rock they described, but wasn’t black, I decided to keep on walking up a bit more to get a better overview and hopefully spot it. Snow now covered the ground and I was already at around 1600m when I realised that the rock I spotted earlier must have been the one. I could not spot any other rocks in my nearby surroundings and the slope got steeper and steeper. I was also getting quiet tired now from carrying the backpack with all my camping equipment and could not wait to find a spot to set up my tent! The thought of hiking back down again to the rock after half an hour of strenuousness uphill climb did not make me happy, so I kept on going up in a desperate search for a camp spot. I would eventually run into the other group, I thought, but the now boot-deep snow made it hard to find the path and it was slowly getting dark now as well, so I had no time to lose and kept on going.
I did not expect so much snow to be up here and quickly lost hope to actually summit the pass. I needed to focus on finding a good spot to set up camp now, because it would certainly get freezing cold up here at around 1700m now. Pushing myself up higher, I eventually reached a spot that some other people used as a camp before, judging by the circle of rocks that would perfectly fit a tent in between them. There was a big boulder on one side for some wind protection and generally a good spot, so I decided to use it as a camp. First though, I needed to stomp down all the snow in order to be set up the tent on top of it. It took me a little while to do so, but at least it also kept me warm at the same time. Once I set up the tent, it became dark pretty fast and I had to wrap everything I had in order to keep myself warm. It got really cold in the night and I was actually freezing for the first time ever in a tent; my sleeping bag is not as good as it used to be! I got used to the cold though and eventually fell asleep after going out for a last pee around 1AM, looking at one of the most amazing night sky full of stars I have ever seen in my life. Sadly, there was no way to capture it with the camera of my phone…
The next morning greeted me with sunshine again and I woke up just for the first rays of light shining on Fitz Roy’s back side. It was still freezing cold and I had to do some exercises to warm myself up while enjoying the amazing views around me. I would sadly not be able to make it up to the pass, just about 200m higher from my current position. There was just too much snow and I did not want to risk it without having proper equipment. So instead, I was walking back without ever meeting the other group that was supposed to be up here. It was still totally worth all the effort and a trek I will never forget!
On my way back, I found the path to bypass the camp this time and could enjoyed all the landscapes in great sunny conditions. Passing Piedras Blanca again, I would soon find myself at the bridge close to the Fitz Roy viewpoint and was instantly thrown back into the mad amount of day tour tourists – something I really did not miss! This time though, passing the same path back towards El Chaltén for the third time now, I had insanely good weather and just had to take some more pictures of the famous Fitz Roy skyline – I wish I had my camera back then but luckily some of the phone pictures turned out to be nice too! It was just a perfect way to end this hike, which was packed with adventure and amazing moments that I find hard to put into text actually, it’s something you just have to see with your own eyes… My time in El Chaltén was not over though and after getting back to my favorite hostel Hem Heru, I got ready for the next hikes.
Mirador de la Loma (plus Los Cóndores & Las Águilas), Argentina
22/03/2015 I’ve had experienced some truly exciting days on the hike to Paso del Cuadrado, but was still not just yet finished in El Chaltén. After some more bouldering and a really amazing Argentinean Asado in the hostel’s garden, I started my last hikes. While doing the first one to Mirador de la Loma and it’s fantastic views on my own, I was once again joined by the two Julias to summit the easy viewpoints of Los Cóndores & Las Águilas, offering less spectacular, but still very nice views on El Chaltén.
Following my typical El Chaltén eating routine, I once again had masses of Dulce de Leche for breakfast and even continued eating it at the point I ran out of bread – I just loved it so much I guess! I also bought the same food again for the last hikes, basically a lot of bread, cheese and salami. This time, I was packed light and only carried some food for the six hour hike to Mirador de la Loma. I left at noon and was hoping to return for football at 15:30. The first part of the trip would lead me to towards Paso del Viento, which was my main goal here in the area but sadly, due to the weather conditions, not possible to do on my own. After about one hour of walking uphill, I left the Paso del Viento path and turned to the right, heading into a forest. The hike until there was pretty boring, but just when I left the forest again, I could finally see Fitz Roy in the Background from a different perspective and was extremely lucky with the weather too.
Not long after, I would head into another forest, constantly hiking uphill. There were a lot of people around here, mainly Asians as they hiked up in a huge group, and I passed all of them on my mission to get back to football. I think I was walking as fast as possible before you would have to define it as running
Leaving the forest again, I was walking uphill through some scree now, eventually reaching the end of the trail. What I saw when I reached the viewpoint was just amazing – I had a clear view on Fitz Roy, all the valleys, lakes and hiking paths I used before and most importantly: I could see Cerro Torre for the first time! After all those days in El Chaltén, I was so happy to finally see him as well and it was impressive sight. Too bad it’s so hard to climb this thing as it was really tempting.I decided not to go up to the highest point of the nearby summit, which would take about another half hour extra walking and apparently, the view from there would be kind of the same according to Hugo from the hostel. I spent around one hour at the Mirador though to enjoy the landscape to the fullest before I started to hike back to town. Probably breaking a lot of speed records, I made it back way before the football starts and could enjoy a nice warm shower first. It was actually my last day here in the hostel and I really loved this place, making it a bit hard to leave. If you ever make it to El Chaltén, please check out Hem Heru and say hello to Hugo ;-)
One last hike was still to be completed though and both of the Julias joined me once again for a fun hike to Miradores Los Cóndores & Las Águilas. You can easily combine both of them and do it in about two hours, offering nice views along the vast fields close to the Patagonian ice field. It was super windy up there as well and as usual, the weather was good too. Other than the four-day bad weather window that I used to do some bouldering, I was always lucky down here! As hard as it was, it was now time for me to leave El Chaltén and I wanted to give hitch hiking a try again, just like about the ten other people per day here! It was just very expensive to use the bus here and while I failed to hitch hike from El Calafate to El Chaltén, doing it the opposite way now was much more easier, thanks to the smaller size of El Chaltén. The first car actually picked me up after just a minute of waiting!
The older man worked in El Chaltén and was on the way back home, could not speak any English at all but was a really nice guy in general. We somehow communicated in my broken Spanish and I could finally, on my last day, see the famous view from the road looking back to the Fitz Roy Skyline. I took a quick picture from the car as I didn’t want to ask him to stop and I only had my crap phone camera anyway, but this picture will always remind me of the great landscapes in this part of Patagonia and I’m happy to have it now. My next stop was the famous Perito Moreno Glacier near El Calafate and I will tell you all about that in the following Live Update :-)
Glacier Perito Moreno, Argentina
23/03/2015 I was finished with all the hikes in El Chaltén, but had one more item on my bucket list near close-by El Calafate: Glacier Perito Moreno, one of the few growing glaciers in Patagonia. I knew it would be super touristy, but everyone I’ve met told me to go there nevertheless and I was not disappointed to do so. It was a perfect sunny day and the temperatures caused a lot of huge ice blocks to fall of the roughly 74m high glacier. You can see one of those video clips in this live update, while the complete video will come in a couple of months.
My bus to Perito Moreno left at 08:30 in the morning, costing 300 Pesos for a roundtrip. Not cheap, but I slowly got used to the prices in Patagonia. I left the bus at 10:00 at the first stop, starting to walk my way up towards the second bus stop, which is located at the Main entrance including a Restaurant and other touristic stuff. I think I don’t have to mention that Perito Moreno is VERY touristic, especially lots of Asian people that I didn’t really see in El Chaltén for instance; guess they are just coming down here to see the glacier. One interesting fact about the glacier is that it is one of the very few growing glaciers, advancing about 2 meters each day! I just wonder how long it will take until they have to built a new viewing platform…
The park offers various hiking trails and you can easily spend four hours here walking all of them and constantly stare at the glacier whenever it bursts off another piece of ice, making some really cool cracking sounds first. It is in fact a very spectacular view, especially looking over the glacier from one of the higher viewpoints. First though, I explored the lower parts and always ran into the same people again. I was always ready with my phone camera and shot tons of movies, hoping to capture a bit of the action live.
I was lucky to do so twice, once in the lower slopes and once in the higher ones (see the video above). It was pretty impressive to see those nearly 80m high Icebergs falling off and a complete different experience to my trip in Greenland and the Eqi Glacier, which you can check out here. Perito Moreno was smaller, but had much more action and it was constantly cracking down somewhere. You are also able to get much closer and I was especially lucky with the relatively hot weather.
I finished the upper and lower walks and then walked towards the end to see the glacier from a different perspective. I found myself a bit further away from the glacier then and could not see so much action anymore. It was still nice to see everything from this angle with the surrounding mountains on both sides. Heading back up, I was waiting for one more major “breakdown” of an iceberg with a nice motive of all the people staring at the lower slopes, but sadly nothing happened. I now spent over four hours here and it was time to head back towards the Restaurant, where the bus would pick me up again at 14:30 and drive me back to El Calafate. Next up was my flight to Ushuaia, followed by my long awaited cruise to Antarctica to see even more ice bergs