12km Hike Day!
Trip Start
Jun 01, 2009
1
25
64
Trip End
Ongoing
Loading Map
El Chalten,
Patagonia,
Argentina
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
We left on the bus in the pitch dark at 8am after legging it down from the hostel after leaving abit too late but thank god we made it with a min or so to spare.
We arrived in El Chalten about 11am not really knowing what to expect. We taught it would be an organised tour of the area which is mainly in the mountains with beautiful scenery etc.
We arrived and were greeted by a girl on our bus who i taught said she would be back in 5 mins to explain our day etc. 10 mins later we found out that most people had been inside the hostel for this talk so we missed the introduction which mainly gave advice on what treks to take and which treks were closed etc..
Now we learned it was no organised tour but we were on our own hiking to different parts to get views of the surrounding areas etc..
We decided to do the 12km trek (6km each way which was meant to take 1 and half hours each way). This leads you to a viewpoint of the Fitz Roy which is the highest peak in these mountains. The town was shut down as its off season here so before we began we eventually found a bakery to stack up on supplies for the trek ahead. The trek was fairly lethal from the start. Going to the viewpoint was mainly uphill and the trek was covered in snow and ice (there was a sign at the start saying turn back if ice or snow but we were not turning back after we had booked the day especially to see this mountain peak).
The trek uphill was fairly savage and took us 2 hours to get up, mainly due to the conditions.
Distances from El Chalten
It was a beautiful day and the trek would have been fine if there was no ice on the ground but it was severe and we had many many a slip as we reached up but thankfully no fallers (on the way up anyway). We had 2 big fine sticks for balance so these helped alot!! We stopped off half way up to see a stunning scene of a valley below with a lake and mountains and then headed on for what seemed an eternity but we eventually made the top to the viewpoint of the Fitz Roy. It was good but nothing at all compared to the previous day so we just rested and had lunch up there before making our way back down which we taught would be lethal since it was all down hill.In the end we flew down-parts of it were lethal and poor Shar took one hopper but she has lived to tell the tale and in the end we started going off trail to easier terrain to make our way down.
By the time we got down and walked the long street in the town to find a cafe shop, we had walked about 15km so as you can imagine, we were knackered. On top of this we were shattered tired, cold, wet and filthy and we still had to wait 2 hours more for the bus and then take a 3 hour bus ride home!! (Good times.... NO) but we made it back and were delighted to have completed the trek and be back in our warm hostel having food and an early night!!
The hostel we stayed in was one of best we have been in-views from the common area were across looking at the snow capped mountains and the place had underground heating which was very welcome as it was bitter outside. Even the poor dogs (which by the way we have never seen so many dogs roaming around anywhere-they are everywhere here just raoming the streets) sneak in and just collapse on the heated tiles before being chased out. Loucy really as its bitter out and they just want the heat.
We were off to Cordoba the following day so we did some packing and had an early night as we deserved it. An episode of Father Ted on the dvd player (which is coming in very handy) and we were conked for the night!! It was probably the most tiring day yet but great to have done it and good preparation for Machu Pichu and the Inca Trail!!
Comments
12km hike !!
Seriously kids, thought the sign re; turn back ice, would have been enough, but hey you two troopers kept going, it was like a scene from a sci fy film, getting back to the closed down town- wet -hungry -dirty and settling for what was it fr. ted ? O my heart went out to all the dogs ( and ya you two lol) cant imgaine how cold ye felt even though the weather is crap here its very humid....be sure and leave plenty hansel and gretal crumbs when you are on the Machu Pichu & Inca trail...X x