El Chalten, Argentina

I had a delicious steak and red wine dinner in El Calafate together with some international friends: Roen from Johannesburg, Katrin from London, and Kathy from Toronto. Unfortunately, I had to get up way too early again to catch the first bus bringing me to El Chalten, South America's mecca for mountaineering. I slept the first two hours of the bus ride, but when I opened my eyes I saw the following scenery for which it was worth getting up early:

The Fitz Roy massive high over the Patagonian steppe, wow! How lucky was I to see that when arriving. I have heard of people who spent three weeks in El Chalten and didn't even see the mountains once. And I was lucky enough to see it on the first day! On the other side of the bus you could see the gigantic Glaciar Viedma dropping into Lago Viedma. What a contrast, the white glacier coming from the continental icefield, the deep blue lake, and the yellow-brownish pampa. I guess I had some fun days ahead of me in El Chalten!


The mountains were qickly hiding again in the clouds. It was sunny and windy down in El Chalten. I got some supplies from a small market and hiked up to Fitz Roy's base camp where a snow storm waited for me. Yes, you read right. Just 2.5 hours away from warm and sunny El Chalten I was in the middle of a snow storm... Patagonian weather! So I quickly pitched my tent and hiked back down again to some boulders that I spotted on the way up.

I met some other guys from the base camp there and we had a fun bouldering session. To be honest, El Chalten would also be a superb sports climbing and bouldering destination besides its impressive mountains. Since it was getting late, I packed my stuff and hiked back up to the base camp while my eyes were following the condors circling high above me. And guess what I saw, once I made it out of the trees? Right, a blue sky and the entire Fitz Roy range:

Wow, Patagonian wheather is really crazy! I was deeply impressed by this majestic mountain range. Of course, I could now spend hours talking about all the different climbing routes leading up Fitz Roy and the corresponding technical difficulties. But let us leave that aside and just look at this enormous and beautiful granite monolith. At least, I spent hours looking at it. Unfortunately, I wasn't as lucky the next days and never had such great views of the mountains again.

Normally you would see the equally impressive Cerro Torre in the background of the upper picture, but it was constantly hiding for the next four days and I could just guess how tall it could possibly be. I link a picture here for you:

Now isn't that a good reason to come back again one day? It's a pity that it was storming, raining , and snowing the next days. So is that what another day in paradise looks like?

I went out anyways and hiked and climbed in "semi-optimal" conditions. Believe me, I really had fun although I start to be fed up with the Patagonian wheather...

But I brought at least one really great memory home from El Chalten and that was definitely worth the trip.

But now I am somehow looking for better wheather conditions and leave the Patagonian climate. Stay posted on my whereabouts!

Ciao,

Flo