Walking in Patagonia

[chrisontour84]

//all pics removed//

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

[Alteknacker]

Wow - pretty hairy stuff! When you can't feel your digits at all, you know it's getting serious.

Looking forward to the next installment...

[ChrisW]

Good lord I hope your second day is much better than this one though you look happier in your photos than you sound in your text, the shelter under the boulder looks like a pretty good spot so there's no wonder you felt better in the morning. Good luck with the remainder

[chrisontour84]

Hehe, the story continues...

//all pics removed//

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.

//all pics removed//

[Shug]

Now you've made me exceptionally jealous! I only had 4 days in El Chalten (too many places, too little time and strangely staying too long in Cordoba) could happily have stayed for much longer. I was one of those annoying day tourists tho! I sympathise with the Patagonian weather. Makes you appreciate the calm sunny days so much more tho.
Those photos are stunning.

[Mal Grey]

Amazing.

The linked photos are fantastic too. That is quite a camp spot behind the boulder!

[Alteknacker]

I'm enjoying reading these. Patagonia looks like a truly other-worldly place. The best I've managed in South America is Sao Paulo, sadly.

Keep bloggin'

[chrisontour84]

Got another update!




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

[chrisontour84]

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

[chrisontour84]

My next updates are not really connected to "Walking" , but maybe some of you find Antarctica interesting anyway? I could keep you updated or even create a new Thread about it - what do you think?





25/03/2015 After a bit more than two weeks in El Chaltén and El Calafate, it was now finally time to leave Ushuaia and begin my voyage to the coldest, driest and windiest continent of our planet: Antarctica. Not too many people have the opportunity to go there and I felt very privileged to be one of them. Together with around 80 other passengers, we would take two full days to cross the rough waters of the Drake Passage before we would be able to set foot on Antarctica, probably one of the most impressive places that we can visit.