El Chalten is known as the trekking capital of Argentina. There's a wide range of hikes from short walks of a few hours for families and older trekkers to week long treks for the highly experienced taking in the Sothern Patagonia Ice Field and various glaciers and high peaks. Much of the area around the town is part of PN Los Glaciares including the massif containing Cerro Torre and Fitzroy, two of the most famous and hardest mountains to climb in the world.
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| The road leading into town with Fitzroy in the background partially obscured by cloud |
On our first full day we set out to walk to Lago de Las Tres (20km return). It was a windy morning with the weather alternating between sunshine and showers every five minutes as we walked up the valley of the Rio Blanco.
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| Rainbow just near the start of the walk |
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| Trekking up the Rio Blanco |
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| Hanging glacier across the valley |
By the time we passed Camp Poincenot and reached the foot of the steep climb to Lago de Los Tres the showers had largely gone away. This part of the hike was really pretty with some areas of steppe, interspersed with patches of light forest.
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| Climbing up from the valley of the Rio Blanco above Camp Poincenot |
After the big climb the weather closed in again, however even though it was very cold and windy the view at the Lago was well worth the effort. Near the top we met a couple from Wollongong who were also travelling the world for a year with their two kids.
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| Lago de Los Tres |
The walk down was much easier (downhill all the way), and the early afternoon actually warmed up quite a lot. Nevertheless we were fairly tired when we returned to the car.
Wow!
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