Gilbys reunited (El Chalten and El Calafate, Argentina)

The next leg of my trip saw me joined by my brother and sister, Alex and Rosanna, who flew out from the UK to spend two weeks with me in Patagonia, a remote area of mountains, lakes and glaciers which straddles the south of both Chile and Argentina. This was the furthest point from the UK of my entire trip and also potentially the coldest and wettest so a logical place for them to come and spend two weeks of their hard earned holiday!

With only two weeks together and a lot things we wanted to see and do in Patagonia in that time, I'd carefully crafted an itinerary which would allow us to cram everything in on both the Argentinian and Chilean sides of the region. However, that rather went out of the window when Alex texted me from Santiago airport to say they'd missed their connecting flight to Patagonia and would be arriving nearly 12 hours later than planned!

I therefore spent a hectic afternoon in Punta Arenas waiting for them while I hastily rearranged accommodation and bus transfers to slip our plans back by a day, but they finally arrived at 1am exhausted from the long flight and unexpected delay in Santiago and unimpressed with the cold wind that was howling through the town that night! After the bad weather I'd experienced in the Lake District in the week before I was concerned that we might get equally bad weather during their visit so this wasn't the best of starts!

The following morning we caught a bus to Puerto Natales, another town in the Chilean side of Patagonia which acts as a base for trekking in the Torres del Paine National Park (more of which in the next blog). We were only spending one night here as we were soon heading further north into the Argentinian side of the region (see the map above), but it did give us a chance to catch a free briefing about the trekking options in the national park at Erratic Rock, a hostel and equipment hire centre, which does daily briefings for hikers planning to walk independently in the national park. This gave Alex and Rosanna a chance to learn more about what I had planned for the second week of their visit, and despite the instructor's warnings about strong winds, forest fires and freezing temperatures at night they didn't seem too put off, which was lucky!

The next day saw yet more bus travel as we caught two buses to take us into Argentina, first to El Calafate, and then on to El Chalten, a small town in the heart of the Parc Nacional Las Glaciares, often described as Argentina's 'trekking capital'. As we approached the town we were greeted by clear views of Mount Fitzroy, the large mountain which towers over the town, which I knew boded well for the next few days as it is very often shrouded in the thick cloud. With the bulk of the travelling out of the way (at least for now) we could now get on with exploring the great outdoors of Patagonia...

Starting our first day trek in El Chalten

The friendly host at our hostel, Sebastian, had explained our options for trekking in the national park around El Chalten, pointing out two treks which were easily accessible from the town, one which would take us to a viewpoint for Mount Fitzroy and another which would give us views of Cerro Torres (another imposing peak close to El Chalten) - subject to clear weather of course! We therefore set off along Sendero al Fitzroy, a four hour walk to Laguna De Los Tres, which sits at the foot of Mount Fitzroy. We had wrapped up warm expecting cold winds and cloudy weather, but were soon hiking in shorts and t-shirts as the sun burned away much of the cloud and allowed fantastic views across the national park. Fitzroy itself was partly shrouded in thin cloud for much of the day, but it did reveal itself every now and again.

Mount Fitzroy peaks through the clouds

Crossing a bridge on Sendero al Fitzroy

Getting a photo of Mount Fitxroy

After around four hours of walking, much of it uphill, we reached the final steep ascent up to Lago Los Tres, which marked the half way point of the trek. Here we needed to put on more layers as we had gained quite a lot of altitude and would be stopping here for some time to eat our lunch and take pictures of the surrounding mountains. The scenery was truly spectacular and a great reward for a morning of tough walking, with the series of peaks which surround Fitzroy forming a natural amphitheatre around the lakes and glaciars which sit below it.

Alex takes in the views back down to El Chalten

Our lunch spot at Lago Los Tres

A second lake close to Lago Los Tres

We spent around an hour at the lake before heading back along the same path back to El Chalten, stopping every now and again to take more photos and snack on biscuits and energy bars to keep our energy levels up. When we arrived back in El Chalten we stopped off for a well earned beer at a local microbrewery/pub and quickly demolished a pizza between us while we compared our relative levels of sunburn from a day walking in the sun.

The cloud finally clears to reveal Mount Fitzroy

Rio de las Vueltas

The following day we set off on another walk in the national park, this time to a viewpoint at the foot of Cerro Torres, a toothy peak, which is apparently one of the hardest to climb in the world for rock climbers. This trek was significantly flatter than the previous day's walk and several kilometres shorter so we were able to take things a little easier and enjoy more fantastic scenery. Again we were blessed with fantastic weather, with even fewer clouds than the day before, which meant we got great views of both Cerro Torres and Mount Fitzroy along the trail.

View of Cerro Torres (left) and Mount Fitzroy (right)

Cerro Torres

After around three hours walking we reached Laguna Torres, which like yesterday's lunch spot, gave a fantastic view of the surrounding mountains and a glaciar which swept down to the lake below, depositing several chunks of floating ice in to the lake. After another long lunch stop to soak up the sun and take plenty of photos we headed back along the trail to El Chalten and arrived back in town tired but happy after two fantastic days of walking. That evening we treated ourselves to a traditional Argentinian parilla, which consisted of a large platter of grilled meat, including beef steak, chicken, pork chops, pork sausage, and more interestingly, blood sausage and offal!

Laguna Torres at the foot of Cerro Torres

Alex soaks up the sun at our lunch stop

Argentinian parilla in El Chalten - yes we did finish it!

The following day we caught an early bus back to El Calafate, a town which seems to owe its existence almost entirely to its proximity to the Perito Moreno Glaciar, a huge glaciar which sits around 100km from the town. El Calafate is a bustling, touristy town full of souvenir shops, restaurants, and tour companies offering a variety of excursions to the glaciar, including opportunities to sail up to it by boat and even walk on top of it. We booked a cheaper trip to the glaciar through our hostel for the next day which while not getting us right on to the glaciar would take us to the boardwalks that have been built close to the glaciar, along with a trip to a traditional Argentinian estancia (farm) and a scenic drive along the old gravel road to the glaciar.

Perito Moreno Glaciar from a distance

The glaciar itself is truly stunning, not only because of its incredible size, but also because rather than trailing off in to a muddy, rocky moraine like many glaciars, it flows right down in to the lake and is continuing to push itself forward down the valley. At 30km long, 5km wide and almost 60m high we were immediately blown away by the sheer scale of the glaciar, but within a few minutes of arriving we were also given an insight in to why the glaciar is such a popular tourist attraction. As we walked down the boardwalks to get a better view of the glaciar, a huge chunk of ice that must have been at least the size of a large detached house came crashing down from the front of the glaciar and smashed in to the lake below, sending snow and ice high in the air and sending reverberations around the surrounding valley. It was an awesome sight and one which was to repeated throughout our afternoon there, thanks to the fact that the glaciar advances up to 2m each day and 'calves' huge chunks of ice in to the lake as it does so.

After several hours walking around the boardwalks and taking pictures of the glaciar from every possible angle, it was time to head back to El Calafate. That night we treated ourselves to some more fantastic Argentinian steak and a bottle of wine and spent the last of our Argentinian pesos on snacks for the long bus journey we would be taking the next day back to Puerto Natales. I'll blog again shortly about our adventures in the Torres del Paine National Park so check back soon!