El Calafate to El Chalten, Day 91

Christi and I take an early morning bus to El Chalten. It’s a spectacular 3-hour journey with stunning views of geologic up-faults, glacial lakes, and snow-capped mountains, plus guanacos, ostriches, and even a fox. On arrival, we stop briefly at the national park offices where we receive an introductory talk on the trekking options. An example of how quickly the weather changes in this part of the world: when we entered the national park building Cerro Fitz Roy was hidden beneath dense fog and clouds; now on our way out the serrated spires are clear and the sky is blue.

Tomorrow we will get up close and personal with the Cerro Fitz Roy massif but today we’re going to do a couple of easy hikes to nearby view-points. Before we embark on our hiking adventures, though, we check into our expensive dorm accommodation at Rancho Grande. The hostel is situated at the far end of town – a town that is still being built, incidentally. Indeed, El Chalten was only created in the mid-80s as a way for Argentina to claim sovereignty over the national park, thus preventing neighboring Chile from getting its sticky paws on the place. El Chalten has the sense that its history is being written now. After dropping our bags at the hostel, we wander back through town, passed the visitor center, and up some easy trails to a viewpoint over lake Viedma and then to mirador de los condors for an impressive look at Cerro Ritz Roy (3,359m – 11,020 feet). Although not particularly tall, this mountain is among the most technically demanding climbs on earth due to its sheer granite face and the treacherous and unpredictable weather in this area. At a time when long lines of climbers reach the summit of Everest every year, there may only be one successful ascent of Cerro Fitz Roy during the same period.

Later we return to our hostel after purchasing snacks for tomorrow’s 19 km (12 mile) hike. By sheer good luck we order a slice of home-made dulce de leche and nut pie from the restaurant at Rancho Grande. It’s exquisite and very addictive and highly recommended!