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Ola from Patagonia, Have just got back from doing some amazing trekking in the El Chalten area and had a fantastic time.Below is a bit of a day by day guide to the trek.
Day 1: After arriving in El Calafate we went to our hostel for a meet and greet sesion followed by dinner.Our group is a bit of an international mixture with people from Canada, America, Scotland, England, Austria, Germany and then us Aussies.Had a quiet night with a 8am departure the following day.
Day 2:Today we drove to the very small town of El Chalten, where the trekking was to start.We started with a talk at the information centre which was on the correct behaviour in the park and included the phrase "Be like a Cat", in reference to what you need to do should the need hit and there are no toilets.The reference to cats was because they bury their poo, and that is what you are expected to do.We wondered if this meant using your feet like a cat for the burying as well?Once in El Chalten we commenced with an easy 90 minute walk which started with seeing a woodpecker going to town on a tree trunk.The views of the river on the first part of the walk were very similar to the dart river region of NZ with milky torquoise water.As the walk finished we also had our first views of Fitzroy, a granite peak which dominates the skyline here along with another peak called Cerro Torre.The day finished with views of Fitzroy mountain, over a torquoise lake near the camp site.It was then for a restless nights sleep in a tent again.James and I saw a rather large bird in the trees and set about stalking it for photos.We got reasonably close for photos and thought we did well, until we found out the bird was a vulture and the fact that it later came down on to the ground in the camp site.Seeing a flat area of water and then some rather flat rocks on the ground James and I couldnt help ourselves.We reverted to the child hood idea of skimming rocks, with both of us pretty ordinary at it.We were told sleeping mats and bags were already in the camp so no need to bring any others.They failed to mention that the mats were only 5mm think and James and I missed our thermarest sleeping mats which were back in El Calafate.
Day 3: Today we set out on a walk which would take us closer to Fitzroy and its glaciers.The run off from the snow and glaciers, and the increased rainfall down here made the countryside much greener than in Aconcagua.The lower altitude was also a big contributing factor to the larger number of plants and trees.Beech trees were the most common specimen here.Some beech trees were very small, almost bonsai like in nature due to the high winds and rocky soils.In other areas the beech trees towered over you.The whole day featured stunning views as we also had great weather.For about an hour we walked up a fairly steep hill, to be rewarded with amazing views of Fitroy, the glaciers which surround it and the milky torquoise lagoons which the glacier waters flow into.We found out that a massive ice field lies in Chile which fills the many glaciers in the patagonian argentina.The ice filed in the third largest source of frozen fresh water on the planet, and comes behind Antarctica and the Arctic.Unfortunately on this occasion we wouldnt get to hike up to the ic field which would have been fantastic.The mountain of Fitzroy is only climbed by rock climbers, with great experience as it thought to be one the the seven hardest climbs in the world.We decided our rock climbing expertise was not up to this so just sat back and enjoyed the views over lunch.After lunch it was off to see another glaciers, which we had noticed the other day for its bright blue colour which you could see from some distance.The views of the is glacier were also absolutely stunning.It was then a long walk of around a further two hours to bet back to camp.We walked for about 8 hours.In the camp waiting for us as our reward was yet again Tang and a biscuits.The same flavour of tang and same biscuits which we consumed every day on the mountain.James and I were really delighted to have these treats again................ well not really, but we made the most of it by selecting all our favourite biscuits while everyone else got to know which were the good ones and which were the terrible biscuits.In the afternoon the lagoon went very still and we had mirror reflections in the lake, of the mountains.
Day 4: Yet another day of outstanding weather.The morning started with the lagoon still dead flat and amazing mirror reflections of the surrounding mountains.These were some of the best views yet and lots more photos were taken.Today we were transfering camps to the Cerro Torre side, which was just one valley over.It was a rather easy six hour walk to get to the new camp.On todays walk we went back over some of the same ground as yesterday before walking past two more lagoons.We stopped for a one hour lunch break next to one of the lagoons.The rest of the days walk was through similar countryside to the previous days walk.Once in the valley our views were dominated by Cerro Torre which was another granite peak with more glaciers.Both the Cerro Torre and Fitzroy mountains were formed after the Andes were formed and are younger mountains at only 20 million years old.They are the only mountains in the Andes formed from granite.Tomorrow we have organised to do a tour of one of the glacies which runs down from the ice field behind Cerro Torre.Thankfully the sleeping mats here are slightly thicker and the tents are a good size.
Day 5: We started the day off by getting fitted with a harness for the glacier trekking we were going to be doing.We all had a bit of a laugh about how silly some of us looked especially since they pulled the harness tight, even though we wouldnt need them till later.The first bit of excitment came when we had to kind of rapel across the river for a crossing.They had rigged two lines up and in true mission impossible style you were clipped onto the rope and then pulled yourself across the river.The rock climbers and guides made it look very easy while most of us just looked to be trying hard.It was then a very hard climb up a steep slope and down the other side to get to the glacier.Some sections of the up hill left us wondering how exactly we would be going back down those sections.Once on the glacier it was time to put the crampons on and away we went, crunching over the ice as we toured the glacier.The glacier did not have as many crevasses as in NZ on the Frans Joseph.The top of the glacier actually semi resembled a long line of human brains with the dimple shapes.The glacier also feaured many holes with the ice underneath deep blue in colour.The colour comes from areas where the ice has been highly compressed.We also saw some deep holes in the glacier, with one so deep we could see the bottom.It was then time to have a go at ice climbing.Our guide gave us a quick explanation on how to do it and then off we went.It was great fun even though the wall wasnt that high.By the top of the wall I was tired and ready to come back down.Having your body supported on an ice face by the toe crampons and ice axes was an odd feeling.Thankfully one of the guides also had you roped up and was holding your weight should you fail.After the glacier it was then time to do the very tough hike back to camp and from there out of the national park.At the end of what was a 10 hour day on the legs a shower was great reward.Also having a bed was something and pillow to sleep on was a relief.This time only went about four days without a shower but the smell factor was still high.We all went out to dinner in El Chalten which was a great night.After dinner went to the local microbrewery which seemed the capital of the El Chalten night life.The pub with a brewery however ran out of beer on tap and only had bottled stuff.It was all good though.El Chalten is a very small town with not too much to it.It was only built in the 1980s so that Argentina could make the most of the national park before Chile did.Apparently there was a bit of a diplomatic disagreement between Chile and Argentina over who should get the use of the park.In 5 years the number of houses will have doubled or tripled as more and more people come to this beautiful area of the world.
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