El Calafate

Saturday February 1, 2020

El Calafate, Argentina

Seems like we got outta Dodge just in time.  We woke up to rain and clouds totally enveloping the mountains.  We were early to the bus station so got primo seats for the 3-hour ride to El Calafate - upstairs, front row.  And - the seats were very comfy; leg supports and big recline.  I may have slept for a while.

We quickly left the rain behind and reversed our drive from Monday.  Stark, stark, empty landscape.  We saw a few guanacos close to the park, but not much else.  The road is a narrow strip of pavement through an otherwise empty landscape.  The surface is very good.  There were only one or two small bumps the entire way.  I have been surprised by the number of fully-loaded, self-supported cyclists on the road.  I would love the tailwind but the headwind is so much worse than Kansas!  All in all a pleasant bus ride.

El Calafate looks like an interesting town.  Something I found on the internet said it was a town of about 6000 people some time after the year 2000.  It is now over 25,000, so lots of growth in a short period of time.  The world comes to see one of the few glaciers in the world that is still growing.  Let's hope it doesn't start receding too quickly or there will be a lot of cheap real estate for sale.  It is located along the south shore of Lago Argentino.

It was a short walk from the bus terminal to our hostel.  The streets are a mixture of paved and gravel surfaces.  We crossed one 4-lane road with a big boulevard in the middle and lovely streetlights down either side as far as the eye could see.  And almost no buildings; I guess they're planning for future expansion.  Our hostel is lovely - new, spacious, comfy......  It was just a short walk to downtown.  A very nice little tourist town.  In our exploration of town we saw lots of interesting shops, some parks, and a national park visitor centre.  The day has turned from overcast to sunny so hopefully that bodes well for our outing to the glacier tomorrow.

Bye Bye Fitz

Friday January 31st, 2020

El Chalten, Argentina

Well, there was one more hike we thought we would like to get in before we left - Loma del Pliegue Tumbado.  It doesn't seem to be quite as popular as the other two long hikes - probably because there is over 1000m of elevation gain.  We were up for another 7:30am start time.  Barb and Jill decided to stay behind to deal with some logistics issues.  The day looked like another beauty - clear skies, and temperature and winds were both OK. 

We walked about 45 minutes to get to the trailhead, then began the steady ascent.  We travelled through a mix of forest and open areas.  There were certainly more open areas than on some of the other hikes, but while this meant more exposure to the wind it also meant more fabulous views of not only Fitz Roy, Cerro Torre and Cerro Solo, but of all the other surrounding mountains and valleys as well.  As we got higher we also had great views south to Lake Viedma.  All of these mountains seem like old friends to us now and we can better appreciate the subtle changes of perspective that this hike afforded us.

In one of the open areas early in the hike we were lucky enough to see 2 condors riding the air currents above us.  The Andean condor is the largest flying bird in the world by combined measurement of weight and wingspan.  It is one of the world's longest-living birds, with a lifespan of over 70 years in some cases (says Wikipedia).

We passed through an area of grazing cattle before entering an extended forest section in mid-hike.  So quiet, calm, and peaceful (although uphill).  One nice thing about the earlier starts is that there are not too many other people on the trail yet.  After the forest section it was time to layer up for the final push.  There was an open, windy, and rocky section to get through next.  Amazing views, though!  Finally - to the mirador which overlooked our final destination lake from yesterday.  It was so far below us that at first I had a hard time recognizing it.  What a panorama to look at!!  It is just too immense to capture with a camera.  I sure tried, though.  And now I have a hard time choosing just a few to put in here.......

We paused to absorb for a bit until Carole suggested that she would like to try to climb up another few hundred metres to the top of the loma (knoll).  The trail zigzagged very steeply up the hill.  I would have been content to just enjoy the view from the mirador but I couldn't let Carole go up alone, now could I?  It was a bit of a steep grunt but I'm so glad I went up.  And - almost no wind at the top!!  Words cannot describe the vistas!  We ate our lunches and just soaked it in.  If not for keeping Joan waiting for us we might still be up there.  It was sad to leave but we feel very fortunate that we had such good weather (especially today) in a place renowned for the exact opposite.

Back to town, groceries, a stop for me at the waffle restaurant, then dinner, a shower, and repacking to leave early in the am.

Cerro Torre

Thursday January 30th, 2020.

El Chalten, Argentina

There was another “must-do” hike on our list. It was a toss-up between today’s weather forecast vs Friday’s, so we agreed to try today and see how far we got on the 9 km hike to Laguna Torre. The temperature was way better than yesterday and the sky was nearly clear. Well, except for further away on the Cerro Torre Massif itself.

It was another fabulous hike!  Not as much climbing as on Tuesday - only about 300m in total. Some beautiful forest walking interspersed with expansive views. We could see a big C-shaped glacier on Cerro Solo to the left, the Cerro Torre Massif and glacier, and a clear view of the towers of Fitz Roy behind some other mountains to our right.

It’s amazing to be walking through a beautiful, mellow forest one minute and less than 2 (mostly flat) km away be at the foot of a huge glacier and mountain range.  But that’s what we did. A little climb up what I suspect is a terminal moraine, and - wow!  At our feet is a lake with lots of icebergs and bergie-bits floating (or grounded) near shore. Some of the larger ones were stuck out a bit further and acted as a breakwater for some rather large waves generated by the very strong winds coming off the glacier.

There is a further 1 km extension to the hike that goes up on the ridge on the right-hand side of the lake.

I went up there and could barely stand up in the howling wind. Two of us ventured just a short way and came back down to the lake for lunch. The other three fought the wind a little longer and didn’t manage to get blown off. Other than the wind right at the end it was a great weather day - warm temperature and mostly clear skies!  We had some better views on the way back down.

The trail brought us back through town..........

Then it was back to the hostel for a shower and out for dinner at a vegan restaurant. Very tasty!  There went another day. One more hiking day left in El Chalten before we move on again.