Trekking Fitz Roy

  El Calafate, Patagonia, Argentina
Friday, January 23, 2009

We arrived in Patagonia to aerial views of the Fitz Roy area and came into land at the small but modern airport in El Calafate. this was the trekking plane as on the baggage carousel there were only rucksacks. Everyone was bundled into minibuses then dropped off  around town. As this part of the world was going to be expensive for us it was camping all the way so we set up in the municipal campsite that was very multicultural. There were Chileans on holidays, other trekkers like us from across the world and cyclists finishing off their marathon trip down south America. We headed into town as we still did not have a stove or sleeping mats, these were eventually found at reasonable prices that wouldn´t break the bank. We got our bus booked up to El Chalten and stocked up in the local supermarket. We were now ready for our first Patagonian trek. Next day we head out on the early bus we arrived in the small town of El Chalten which is a wee windswept settlement full of tourists and tin houses. The landscape was wild, more wild than the wildest of Scotland. Once we had ditched our excess baggage and picked up a few other supplies we started walking. We headed up over the hill away from town and into a valley full of wind swept stunted beach trees. As we walked further on we crossed the old terminal moraines of the Cerro Torre glacier. We pitched our tent at the small windswept free camp site. We then headed out to check out our surroundings. We walked round to the end of the Torre glacier and see the old abandoned climbing huts though Cerro Torre was hiding from us in a thick cloud backed up with strong winds. We headed back for dinner and sleep. And we had the first taste of what was to become our favourite biscuit -the fritigran! Brilliand for dunking in tea!

The fruti grans! The best dunking biscuits!

Next day we woke up quite early and headed out to see if the cloud has lifted but no luck. I headed out to do a bit of sketching as we have only got a short walk to the next camp. After we packed up camp we headed round to the next valley where we would see Fitz Roy. As we slowly walked around more and more came into view, the peak was completely clear with rows of Granite spires  Centered by the massive Tower of Fitz Roy. A rather long photo session was needed.

The Fitz Roy Massif

We then headed into camp where we ended up next to an Aussie couple and an Irish Couple. As we settled down to sleep the late arrivals came and decide to put themselves right outside our tent. Unfortunately this was not done quietly as they shouted across the campsite to their friends.
Next morning we woke before dawn to see sun rise as it was supposed to be spectacular. We were running a little late so as we raced up the hill to the view point we missed the first part. Slightly unfortunately the cloud was down and the sun rise was not as spectacular as we had hoped. The view was still impressive but we headed down a little chilly and tired.

Fitz Roy hiding in the clouds at sunrise

We got back to the tent for a second sleep. A little later our noisy neighbors woke and decided that shouting across the campsite was their favorite morning activity, we were not impressed.
Around lunch time and a bit later than we should have we headed on to our final camp spot in Valle Electrico. On the way we took a side trip to see an amazing glacier that descended steeply into the end of a small lake surrounded by moraines, stunning. We headed on as it was starting to get late, unfortunately we took a wrong turn. Twenty minutes later after following a random path in the woods that went nowhere we decided to head back. Half an hour later and getting a bit grumpier we were back on course with several hours of ground still to cover. We were both getting sore feet and Fiona was working on a good collection of blisters. Eventually after what seemed like an age we were there. A  nice camp site but the views weren´t half as impressive as we had experienced before. Feeling tired we made tea knowing the next day we would have to repeat the walk all the way out. So as a consolation we enjoyed a beer in the hut!
Next day we started early as we had 20km to cover and it wasn´t an easy path. In good style we got lost in the woods again but eventually found our way. we eventually got back to El Chalten and managed to grab the last two seats back to El Calafate that night "jackpot".
We arrived back tired to be bundled of the bus only to forget our roll mats and leave them on the bus, we were going to have a firm bed tonight. We headed to the campsite tired so we didn´t notice the lack of insulation underneath us too much.
Next day it was back to the bus station to retrieve our roll mats and book a ticket to the famous Perito Moreno Glacier. That afternoon we did the touristy trip after paying extortionate park fees that weren´t needed for trekking but were for looking at the glacier.

Glacier shaddows

Once there the glacier was stunning and we were fortunate enough to capture some pictures of massive chunks of ice falling into the lake. Over priced but still amazing, and funny to watch the other tourists with some pretty dodgy photography.
Once back in Calafate we were booked out the next day to Puerto Natales the next day so we were heading back to Chile for the third time. We´ll soon have a passport full of Chilean stamps!