Finest trekking and camping so far around Fitz Roy that mostly seemed to make up for the loss of Torres Del Paine. After busing for another 4 hours we were still actually in the same park as the glaciers we saw in El Calafate. We got off the bus and stowed some things off at the only hostel in town with availability for our return in three nights from hiking (the terrible one referenced in the other blog post) and set off on our first hike.

The weather is notoriously windy, rainy, and almost perpetually cloudy around the towering peaks of Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy. However we had perfect clear weather with not a cloud in the sky and barely a breeze, which was a national holiday for the horseflies that favored David's glossy black hair. A worthwhile sacrifice for the views. A 5 hour hike got us to the camping area on the edge of a raging glacial fed river...again with water safe to drink right out from the source. We watched the sun go down over Cerro Torre, and then rested up over a dinner of boiled eggs and ravioli for David in prep for our next day of hiking to Fitz Roy.

It was cloudier the next day, and we could not see the peak of Fitz Roy, but we had the most incredible hike after setting up camp at the base of the mountain. The trail went seemingly straight up to the top. We were the only people at the top as it was later in the evening and it looked like we had landed on another planet covered in rocks with the steep cliff faces of Fitz Roy and other smaller peaks surrounding us with glaciers and the coldest most pure water I have ever tasted right at the top of the lake that formed the waterfall and river in the valley below.

We stood in awe at the environment we were in feeling like the only people left on Earth except for what appeared to be one of the massive Andean Condors coming out of some barren rock face out of our view swooping down to the valley below.

It was incredible to wake up to a clear sky and stunning view of Fitz Roy. I (Leah) had an early cup of coffee and shed a few tears as I sat silently, feeling overwhelmed by what I could see. The hike out the following day was uneventful, except for the incredible views of Cerro Fitz Roy that we were stealing since it was a perfectly clear and sunny day yet again.