 |
We are met at the El Calafate Airport. This city is the national capital of the glaciers and the administration and nerve centre for the activities of the National Glacier Park due to its strategic geographical location and the presence of the great lakes of Argentino and Viedma. Its climate is dry and cold and it takes its name from the word tehuelche, a prickly bush (berberis) with yellow flowers. Here we have an introductory dinner on the first night.
|
 |
After breakfast we travel 220 kms across the wild Patagonian Plains to El Chaltén, a small, beautiful and dreamy mountainside town at the foot of the Fitz Roy Mountain. Along the way we stop at a pretty farm to eat some delicious artisanal cakes and here we can enjoy the majestic views of the Lake Viedma. El Chaltén, on the edge of the National Glacier Park and on the banks of the Río de las Vueltas, is a place where you can breathe the mystique air of mountaineering together with its preparations and the personal challenges that affront the mountain lovers and is the veritable capital of glacier trekking. It also offers rafting.
|
 |
Bus and trek to Lagoon Capri following the course of the River Blanco
We start our adventure in the National Glacier Park by taking a short bus ride to the northern zone where we begin our trek following the River Blanco to Lagoon Capri. On the way we will have some unique views of La Laguna and Pidras Blancas (White Stones) Glacier. At the end of the afternoon we arrive at the Full Camping Site.
|
 |
Trekking to la Lagoon de Los Tres
We leave our camp site in Lagoon Capri and return to the trail in order to walk to our objective, the Base of the Fitz Roy: Lagoon de Los Tres. Here you can feel the adrenalin, that is common to all the mountain climbers, accompanied by the wild scenery and the background sounds of the waterfalls. These track is the most well known and important of El Chaltén with different types of terrain on the ascent and having the most difficult part being the last 600 metres up a very steep rocky incline. Here we reach la Luguna de Los Tres that receives the springs of the glacier of the three mountains, Fitz Roy, Poncenot and Saint Exupery. It is one of the most impressive viewpoints of the Park. On arrival you have the feeling that you can touch the Fitz Roy Mountain with your fingers because of the closeness of its presence. All the mountain glaciers and ice needles can be seen very well from here. We return by the same trail to the campsite.
|
 |
Trekking to the Torre Mountain
We begin our morning's walk by the valley of Las Lagunas Madre and Hija until the Torre Camping site, close to the Torre Mountain. Here, this side of the Torre Mountain becomes one of the most difficult challenges in the career of a mountaineer and with its height of 3,130 metres and its vertical faces and ice needles it is one of the most difficult to climb in the world. We complete our walk along the edge of the Laguna Torre appreciating as a backdrop, the beautiful views of the Torre Mountain.
|
 |
Walk by the Grande Glacier (badly named the Torre Glacier)
Breakfast in the Laguna Torre Camp site. We then go until the Torre Glacier to begin our walk over the Grande Glacier, where we can observe granite walls. We go well prepared with the equipment including ropes, security harnesses, crampons, etc and always with the help of the qualified and accredited mountain guides who accompany us. We need to cross the Fitz Roy River to arrive at the Torre Glacier and here we use a hanging rope. After we leave the river we walk by a forest of lengas until we arrive at the valley of the glacier. We then spend some hours exploring the interior of the glacier and here there can be ice climbing for the beginners. In the late afternoon we return to our camp site at the Laguna Torre.
|
 |
Resting in El Chaltén or undertaking other optional activities
We return to El Chaltén along the Torre track that mostly follows the River Fitz Roy Valley. We settle ourselves into our respective lodgings and then have the rest of the afternoon free to roam in this precious and picturesque town of El Chaltén or recover one's strength after the arduous previous day's trekking. It is possible to visit the Austrian chapel that is on the Costanera del Sur and Río las Vueltas that was built in 1995, with Austrian materials and by Austrians, to commemorate the mountaineers that die trying to climb to the summit of the mountains. For those that are more active they can take a trip on the Lago del Desierto, embarking at the Puerta Punta Sur. This lake, that is incorrectly denominated a lagoon, has emerald green water that creates a symphony of natural colours together with the green vegetation that falls from the mountains, las lengas, the sand and the stones. Here you arrive at the Centinel Viewpoint that has majestic views of the Fitz Roy Mountain and the Lago del Desierto.
|
 |
Loma del Pliegue Tumbado
From the Guardaparques station in the town of El Chaltén we direct ourselves by a way that crosses meadowlands and forests rising until the slopes of the Pliegue Tumbado. Once we leave the forest we arrive at a rocky zone. This rocky climb does not require too much energy even though we go the summit that is at an altitude of 1500 metres. Here we find one of the most strategic viewpoints of the National park where we can admire the impressive presence of the Torre and Fitz Roy Mountains and in the middle of the valley the Rio de las Vueltas Glacier. From the summit we can also see well the Lake Viedma, the Solo and Grande Mountains, the Paso del Viento and in the distance the Patagonian ice fields. We go back to El Chaltén by the same route.
|
 |
Viedma Lake and Glacier
After breakfast we go to Bahía Tunel in the eastern direction in order to visit the Viedma Lake and Glacier. Once we reach the dock we board a boat to cross the lake to the Viedma Glacier, which is outstanding due to its profound blue ice that can be seen on at its front. We make a trek to the interior of the glacier walking by the ice caves and the sides of the glacier. Late afternoon we return to El Chaltén.
|
 |
The return to Calafate
We breakfast in the Hostel. We catch a regular bus to go back to El Calafate, a four hour journey back along the Ruta 40. We take the afternoon to acquaint ourselves with this Patagonian town, the capital of the glaciers that is situated on the Calafate Mountain and in the Bahia Redonda (Round Bay) on the southern shores of the Lake Argentino.
|
 |
Walk by the Perito Moreno Glacier and sightsee the Iceberg Canal
We wake up and breakfast at the hostel or hosteria before going for our walk to the Perito Moreno Glacier. Our walk is reduced so that we can take some time to see our principal objective and that is the continuous ruptures of masses of ice into the Iceberg Canal from a height of some 50 metres. This is one of the much anticipated highlights of the tour and produces some unforgettable memories of this majestic glacier. Later we return to the city of El Calafate.
|
 |
El Calafate
Breakfast in the Hostel, We are taken to the El Calafate Airport and that signals the end of our trekking program.
|
