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El Chalten is a small village surrounded by huge rocky mountains with icy tips.
It seems like the end of the world (much more than Ushuaia) as it appears there's no way in or out of it... Mountains everywhere and crappy unpredictable wheather.
We arrived on a sunny day which turned gray and rainy in a matter of 2-3 hours. Hiked up to a nice view from the Aguila mirador and the Condor mirador. The view was beautiful but the wind was intense.
The next day we planned on doing the famous Fitz Roy track. You can either leave in the morning and return by night, or you can climb up in the evening, camp at the bottom and climb up at 5:00a.m. to see the sunrise.
We wanted the adventurous sunrise expedition... So we spent the day planning, renting equipment and buying food for the trek (Damn siesta! they close everything between 13:00 and 16:00!).
In the evening we were all packed and ready to go... But the weather was horrible! It was cold, windy and rainy and the forecast was not happy at all about tomorrow morning...
So we decided to drop it for the night and just go on a one day trek the next morning.
The next day started nicely and the first few hours were fun to walk. We approached the mighty Fitz Roy after passing some nice viewpoints. At the bottom of the Fitz the weather started to deteriorate and we had some mild rain and strong winds. Our climb wasn't easy at all, as it is a hard terrain to hike and the wind wasn't helping either. We made it to the top of the trek exhausted and saw the magnificent lagoon.
Avi, Adam and myself couldn't resist the temptation and went down close to the icy lagoon. It was deep blue and so cold... We walked past it to see another huge turquise lagoon. The viewpoint was wonderful but the wind was incredibely strong. I went to the edge to take a closer look (and a photo) and a gust of wind blew me to the ground inches from the cliff! I was lucky enough to hold on to a rock and survive the wind, but it was a close one...
The way back was crappy. Powerful winds and cold relentless rain escorted us on our way back to the city (3 hours or so)... All in all it was about 25Km trek including a steep climb on a single day - not bad at all!
The next day (Saturday) was a terrible storm. We almost flew around on the streets... We spent it playing cards and eating waffles with ice cream... Another good day :D
On the next morning we had the best weather possible... But we had to leave El Chalten early in the morning. We got on a van (15 people) and headed on to a 6 days tour in one of the most famous roads in the world! Ruta 40, or "Carretera de Austral".
More updates soon! :D
Gilad.
- comments
keren best waffle ever !!!
giladhiz You cant find any better if you travel south ;)
miberg Man,I'm glad you survived that wind blow,otherwise it would be the last entry in your nice blog :) Living on the edge,ah....We had a similar experience with Fitz Roy.The weather was horrible as well.We also did a single day trek.The only good clear picture of Fitz Roy i took was from the bus station,5 minutes before boarding the bus.Like you sad:damned weather!
miberg You look like planning to kill the waiter :)
miberg Wonderful!
miberg Think we did not reach it :(