El Chalten and the Glorious Peaks of Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre – Patagonia

21/02 ~ 27/02

Argentina

Tues (21/02) – El Chalten

Cam, Conrey, Toby and myself arrived late afternoon to El Chalten from the border crossing. We ended up staying at the closest place, a hostel called El Rancho at the back of a hotel & restaurant. First thing was getting a burger and a beer or something of the likes. 

We walked for five minutes down the road and came to a place called B&B (burgers and beer)! Sold! The blue cheese burger was delightful. A couple of beers later and we called it a night.

Wed (22/02) – Cerro Torre

Today we’d discover El Chalten hikes. First, was Cerro (Mount) Torre as a day trip. We also needed to get some groceries and look for harnesses for the zip line to do the Huemule Circuit hike – a challenging multi-day hike we were all keen on.

The day was beautiful and sunny, and the hike to Mount Torre was a good choice. The actual hike was easy, and we passed many other day hikers along the way. When we first saw the cathedral-like spires of Torre and its surrounding neighbours, all backdropping (made up word) a huge glacier feeding into Lake Torre below.

It was mind-blowing and unlike any mountain range I’d seen so far! The next 9km of hiking was easy and flat to get to the lake. We ended up walking further around the moraine on the right side and getting some even better views. I accidently left my sunglasses on the rocks back at the start of the lake – oops! They were taken, second pair this trip! Ah well.

We hiked back after some time enjoying the scenery, and headed out to do some shopping for future hikes. Whilst searching we found a familiar face in the main street – Keren! She had only just arrived and we told her to join us at our hostel. 

We had no luck finding harnesses in the morning, and would try again in the afternoon after siesta time. In the meantime, we cooked in the hostel, and drank fernet and coke among with beers. Later on, we eventually found two harnesses to share. Good to go!

Thurs (23/02) – Huemule Circuit (attempt)

We set off around 10am towards the Huemule Circuit hike. You’re meant to register before starting, but the national park office was full of people and we wanted to get started. The registration is to ensure you have the suitable gear and is meant to be a safety measure. The fault in their system is that it’s not checked or followed through, and I have better faith in my InReach satellite GPS for when I run into problems.

The day was beautiful, but quite warm. The first day was climbing from one side of a ridge to the other. It wasn’t steep, but certainly draining due to the size. The top was wet marsh and we all got wet shoes there. We had some lunch and pushed on over the top and began down the other side.

We were greeted by one of the girls from our hostel who set out the day before. She said that the national park officers were behind about 45 mins away, coming this way checking registrations, and she was trying to outrun them back to the start of the trailhead. 

‘Shit‘ – we all decided to hide in the forest nearby to the trail and wait until they passed. We sat quietly for an hour and a half, Cam and myself taking a nap in that time.

A few people passed, but we weren’t sure if it was the rangers. We decided that it was getting late, and we’d need to get a move on to set up camp. We got back on the trail, and within seconds the rangers came from around the corner. ‘Fuck!‘, we started walking back the way we came and (stupidly) decided to take a pretend break. They queried us for permits, and told us we’d be fined for not registering (whilst radioing back to the office), and escorted us back to the trailhead.

We decided all possible scenarios to get out of it, but we had a name from our rental which cornered us, as they had one of our ID cards. We left the trail and found no one was waiting for us at the end. A bluff perhaps? 

Disappointed that we didn’t do the circuit, we camped in the towns main campground. We got some booze and empanadas, and looked back having a laugh at the whole situation. The stars were out and looked amazing with the cliff face backdrop. Tomorrow, we were heading out to Fitz Roy.

Fri (23/03) – Fitz Roy

I awoke in the morning to Toby saying he was packed up and heading off to the lookout towards Fitz Roy to catch the sunrise. I was keen on his idea and left myself about half hour later. The others knew where we were going anyway. I ended up leaving at 6:30am and started the trail.

I had to go fast to catch the sunrise. You can’t actually see the mountain from town, and needed to hike around a smaller mountain first. The climb up was steep, but an easy trail. I caught glimpses of Fitz Roy finally about an hour later, but it was already mostly lit up. ‘Damn, just missed it!‘, I thought to myself as I made it to the mirador (lookout). 

It was spectacular and I ended up brewing a coffee with my jetboil and having breakfast there in the rocky edge with the view. Shortly after Toby came after wandering off on a side trip and joined me.

We waited at the mirador for hours for the others to come. After some time, tourists starting flocking in and wanting us to take photos of them. I felt like I could start charging a service for photos. The quiet solitude became muttering and gasping in awe of the view. Eventually, it became annoying, and we moved on, hoping the others would find us at the campsite.

The rest of the trail was easy and we set up camp around midday. Because we were early, we got some prime spots. We decided to catch up on missed sleep, and napped. I only had one side of my tent covered with the fly to let air in.

Eventually Cam, Conrey and Keren found us and also set up. We all agreed to hike to the blue glacier and lake to the right of Fitz Roy, and then hike up in the early morning for the sunrise at Lago Tres, just below the mountain.

The hike to the glacier was a smaller less used trail along the river. We saw a Huemule (the native deer) about half way! ‘Finally!‘, I think to myself. It didn’t mind us creeping up towards it as it chewed on the branches of the tree.

As we progressed, the path turned into huge boulders we had to climb and leap over. I was very cautious of slipping. We arrived at the lake and there was the beautiful glacier! There was a large chunk of ice floating nearby and we all swam out to it in the freezing water. 

I think I might have lasted almost a minute, but certain areas of my body detested and my brain was forces to comply in leaving the water. ‘Damn you brain – savour the unique experience!‘, I think to myself as I leave the water and fetch my towel.

We hung out there for a good hour or so and relaxed, before making our way back to camp for some dinner. I was using my sleeping bag cover as a daypack hanging off a stick because I left my daypack in El Chalten. They laughed saying I looked homeless haha.

We met up with another group of two Belgian girls, an Australian guy, and another guy (forget where from), and ate together sharing stories. We all agreed to get up early and climb to the lake to see the sunrise.

Sat (24/03)

My alarm went off, but is was lightly raining. Half of me wanted to just go back to sleep. I hesitated in getting up for a few minutes. Keren eventually appeared outside ‘are you guys getting up?‘. In my head I was like ‘…nooo‘, but i ended up saying ‘yes‘, as everyone else did and we left. I forgot my camera not far in and had to go back to my tent.

In my haste to return to the others, I ran straight past the turnoff and went the wrong direction. It’s amazing how lost you can get with only a headlamp for vision. I knew where the river was, but even that didn’t help get me around my immediate obstacles as the trail disappeared beneath me. 

Eventually, I gave up finding the trail and just followed the headlamps from the others in the distance. I heard a feint ‘cooee’ which I knew was Toby and set off in that direction. I found them eventually and it only took about 10 mins really but felt like an eternity.

It was an hour long slog of climbing up to the lake. There was a stream of headlamps all ascending up behind us from others with the same idea. The rain never let up and the wind was biting, but we were already this far. 

At the top, it was even colder. We found a partially sheltered area behind a large rock and I began brewing some coffee and tea for everyone with my jetboil as we witnessed the coloured hue of the sunrise emitting from the other side of the valley. Eventually the sun peaked and it was beautiful! 

Through the rain appeared a rainbow arching right in front of Fitz Roy, and then… another – a double rainbow! The climb was worth the pain in the end, despite Fitz Roy being shrouded in clouds.

After about an hour we made our way back down and went back to catch up on some lost sleep, before packing up and leaving back to El Chalten. Both Mount Torre and Fitz Roy had blown my mind. I felt privileged to have seen them.

That evening was a film festival presentation in town for rock climbing which we wanted to attend – ‘Reel Rock 11‘. We watched four finalists, with the last clearly being the best. A group of French climbers making a pirate adventure ‘Dodo’s Delight‘- hilarious and well received.

Sun (25/03)

Today was the day Toby, Cam and Conrey departed, and Keren went off hikes we’d already had done. After travelling together for at least three weeks, it was actually quite sad to see my friends go their separate ways. I felt alone when they all left; not in a bad way – just the normal feeling of saying goodbyes.

Mon & Tues (26/02-27/02)

Over a couple of days, I made use of the solo time by organising my buses and flights. The weather was poor and the down time was needed. It felt weird to actually have deadlines to adhere to for the first time on my trip. I decided I was going to attempt the Huemule Circuit alone this time – I really wanted to do it. I hired the harness for the zip line and prepared my food bag. I’d start it tomorrow!

The Good:

• The area is full of great hikes, both short and long
• The most dramatic beautiful mountains I’ve seen!
• Swimming in glacial ice
• Good company
• Che Empanadas was affordable and tasty

The Bad:

• The town exists soley by tourism, and has zero charm
• Expensive food
• Worst supermarkets I’ve been to
• ATM ran out of money and everywhere takes cash!
• Getting kicked off the trail

~ Continue my Patagonian travels with ‘Huemul Circuit & Perito Moreno Glacier – Patagonia: Multi-day Hike‘ ~

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