HIKING AT LOS GLACIARES NATIONAL PARK, EL CHALTEN, ARGENTINA

17. March – 20. March 2011

We arrived in El Chalten around midnight after a rather long bus ride. The next morning Rudi suggested to start a four day hike in the afternoon. Expecting to do a few day hikes within the next days, that option hadn't crossed my mind before and I was quite surprised. It brought stress and some logistical difficulties with it but was a wise decision. The weather that day was perfect. El Chalten is a very small town and only has one supermarket. And that supermarket didn't have a big selection and closed for siesta from 1 to 5 pm. We just made it there to buy some Granola (breakfast), Granola bars (lunch) and Spaghetti (dinner) for the hike. Of course it wasn't very smart to spend two hours in a cozy cafe for breakfast / lunch before shopping. In the afternoon we started our hike (only three hours on day one) with blue sky and an amazing view of Cerro Torre, Fitz Roy and the whole mountain range. After walking a while we stopped for an hour at a viewpoint with good views of Cerro Torre and enjoyed the good weather. We set up camp before walking to Laguna Torre. Again, the view of Cerro Torre, the glacier and the lake with small icebergs was amazing. Walking was easy the next day as well - through forest and along a lake. It started raining half an hour before we reached the next campsite and didn't stop all night. Weather still wasn't very good the next morning but at least it wasn't raining anymore. After a short sidetrip to Laguna de los tres (without good views) we continued the hike along Rio Blanco. I walked behind Micha and Ruediger (I'm not fast enough to keep up with the guys) and followed them over huge bolders to Laguna Piedras Blancas. With my big backpack it was no fun at all. When I got to the lake we found out that we have to go all the way back over the rocks to the maintrail. I was not happy about that! Anyways, the view at the lake was stunning - the color of the lake greenish and the glacier at the other side of the lake white and blue. We even saw (and heard) a big junk of ice breaking off the glacier. The last day we did a little sidetrip to a viewpoint of Fitz Roy. Beatrice, who was hiking alone, joint us. The trail went up a pretty steep hill over gravel. It was exhausting but the view from up there was amazing. We even were lucky enough to see Fitz Roy a few times when the clouds opened up. After a hot tea in the refugio back at the camp it was time to head back to El Chalten. We only wanted to hike to the road and catch a ride there to El Chalten. I was quite surprised when I realized that the road was just a wide gravel trail. We were lucky and after a short time a pick-up truck stopped and gave us a ride to El Chalten. Back in town I enjoyed a hot shower, lamb for dinner and a good nights sleep in a bed before taking the bus to El Calafate the next day.