Trekking capital of Argentina, but where do we start?
This was a difficult trip to work out. El Chalten is known as the trekking capital of Patagonia, but I found it difficult to find an organised trip that went somewhere. The answer I had been seeking became quite straight forward when I arrived as there are no organised treks. The very helpful receptionist, Mattheus in our hotel explained that all the treks are well marked out so there is no need for a guide.
Being in a foreign land, we didn’t really fancy wandering off into the Patagonian mountains in search of a good time on our own, but in truth, it was that simple. All the treks leave from the same car park, and you can choose the route you to take, ranging from an 8km return to a look out over Mt Fitzroy or much longer treks to the various refuges on the mountain where you can restock on provisions and spend the night.
Knowing what I know now, I would not have done it the way we did I would have taken the bus, stayed overnight, and given myself 8 hours to enjoy the trek and the mountains. This is what a lot of the guidance says, and it was our plan, but the guidance also glorifies El Chalten, which to be honest is a bit of a one horse town and there is no reason to be there other than a hike or trek.
We are also out of season, so I suspect in the high season there will be more group treks available to see the main sights and lakes up in the region. We were dithering over what to do when I spotted a one day excursion from El Calafate which included a couple of guided treks with a company called South Road, which seemed to solve the problem. It involved a transfer up to El Chalten, a picnic pack, and 4 hours free time to do a hike.
At this point, their organiser called Liam intervened. The evening before he sent us joining instructions that involved a 630am start rather than an 8am as we had expected, plus links to organise a visitor’s visas to Chile and a ticket for the national park. This was an exciting development as we hadn’t realised we were going to Chile. After 2 hours of pain on websites with no English translations, plus battles with our credit cards who were reluctant to fund the trip, we finally had the necessary documentation ready to go. As the clock hit midnight, we hit the pillow looking forward what was now only 5 hours kip.
Next morning we were up and ready for the tour, and in reception for 6.15 am and annoyed the breakfast lady by making a dawn raid on her croissants and coffee. She actually chased me out of the dining room at one point. At 630am we were ready to go, time ticked on, 645, 700, 715 still no bus. I contacted the tour company and discovered a moron named Liam had sent us the wrong details and the bus would be with us at 745 for an 8am departure – FFS. Thanks Liam, that was 3.5 hours of my life, or in fact sleep that day, that I will never get back.
They even failed that target time, and the bus turned up sometime after 8am, I didn’t really notice as I’d lost consciousness with frustration. Eventually we got on a magnificent looking off road bus and had a bouncy 3 hours’ drive up the famous M40, which is part of the Panamerican highway and runs along the Patagonian range and into Bolivia.
We arrived in El Chalten about midday, and if ever there was a one horse town this is it. You arrive out of the desert and joined the main street which ends at the car park where the trails start, along the road there is procession of single story coffee shops and gift shops that don’t really grab your attention.
At the end of the street is a canyon with a milky glacial river, and through that canyon blew freezing cold winds and there was even a flurry of sleet to greet us, it was bitter.
So, we piled on the trekking gear, and within 20 minutes we were stripped down to our t-shirts, that is how quickly the temperature was changing.
With 4 hours to play with, our hike options were limited so we headed for Cerro Torre in the hope of seeing Mt Fitzroy and the massive glacier. We also hoped to get to Largo Capri, but the hiking was pretty tough with lots of ups and downs, so we settled for the lookout.
The weather and visibility were changing all the time and occasionally supported by icy rain when closer to El Chalten and that valley. Whilst we sat eating our picnic overlooking the valley, we were lucky enough to get a break in the mist and clouds and caught a glimpse of the two most spectacular views.
Mt Fitzroy suddenly appeared to our right, with a brief view straight to the peak, and then a break in the clouds along the valley exposed another massive glacier 10km in the distance.
It was then back to meet the coach. The courier, Sandra, had warned everyone that the coach would leave at 1530 on the dot, and definitely no later than 1545 (already a compromise). Not surprisingly the coach didn’t leave at any of these times, in fact, we were stood by the coach in the freezing rain until gone 1600, at which point Sandra and the lunch brigade appeared from the restaurant, and after the various pickupss, we were well on our way 1 hour late.
We got back to El Calafette at 7pm, roughly 13 hours after our journey started and we had a 4 hour hike, so you can see why there are probably better options.
So, there we have it, we have done the trekking capital of Patagonia and did a hike to prove our credentials, now it is time to head south and the freezing seas of Antarctica and give some appropriate feedback to South Road.
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