Log Five: El Chaltén
the weather window
Along with everyone else in El Chaltén, we had been waiting for a weather window. A pair of climbers sharing the same hostel had told me that during their month stay here they had only been able to climb a handful of times. That was not unusual, weather in Patagonia is notorious, rash, even violent, but this had been a particularly wet summer.
All I hoped to do was hike out to the Fitz Roy, nothing alpine, nothing fancy. We didn’t need a weather window of more than one day, even half a day would work fine. Just one clear day to see the Chaltén Massif, but I never said that out loud for fear of tempting the Patagonian weather gods to keep all the mountains hidden in low cloud cover.
Actually, I was very grateful for a few days of grey, wet weather because it had forced me to slow down and rest my injured knee. Olivia and I spent four days hanging around El Chaltén, doing short hikes, meeting up at the brewery in the evenings for craft beer and music, buying cherries by the pound out of the back of some guys truck. It was a wonderful few days, and I was lucky to have such good company in Olivia.
We began to hear whispers around town of a window coming. It would only be a few days, but you could feel the mellow energy of the entire town lift, everyone itching to get outside to their projects. We decided to temper our expectations and not to get too excited, but on that following Thursday morning I woke to bright sunshine. I messaged Olivia in capital letters and an hour later we were at the trail head.
Mirador Del Fitz Roy
This is a tantalizing hike. On a clear day you can see the Massif the entire way, inching ever closer as the path contours across several distinct ecosystems of forests and open fields. It was also an emotional hike that brought tears to my eyes many times. Tears flowed in reply to the majesty and grandness of this landscape, from the granite spires of the massif to the tiniest yellow flowers growing along the trail, and in a small attempt to say thank you to mother earth for the gift of this day.
to the left: A sliver of Las piedras blancas glacier
the mighty fitz roy
tiny yellow flowers gifting serious joy
Olivia!
we asked the only other hikers we met along the way for a photograph
Here, right in the center, you can see the last mile of this trail switching back & forth
Pioncenot campsite
AT THE BASE OF THE FITZ ROY FOR THOSE NEEDING OR LOOKING TO MAKE CAMP
after the campsite we crossed over this beautiful river
The Final Mile
heading up the switch back & looking back towards El Chaltén & two lakes: lagunas Madre e hija & Laguna nieta
the last push to the base of these mountains
Once over the last bit of hill, we were met with the most incredible view: the entire Fitz Roy Massif completely free of cloud with an almost iridescent glacial lake nestled below.
We met two tour groups at the top, even so it was quiet and did not feel crowded. Instead the bright colors of jackets were beautiful against the grey of granite of the peaks and and high grey cloud cover that was slowly replacing the blue sky.
Tiny hiker for scale
Loungin’ & lunch
High winds kept the skies in flux and eventually chased away the layer of cloud cover, bringing back the blue sky and sunshine. Elated to have sunshine at the Fitz Roy after so many days of rain, Olivia and I decided we would have lunch and sunbathe at the lake for a good long while.
My lunch, as per usual, was an avocado sandwich and cherries I had bought the day before from the back of a pick up truck. Utterly content, I kicked back to soak up a little sun and watch the sky. We sat down by the Laguna de los Tres with a view across the lake to the Fitz Roy, and over the next hour it was fascinating to watch the clouds dancing and forming, moving by quickly on high altitude winds.
The Other Lake
After laying around for an hour, chatting and eating cherries, I left Olivia to catch a view of another lake I knew was somewhere to the left. I followed along a trail that quickly concluded on a hill top to offer a view of a lake called Laguna Sucia. Both lakes are fed by the glaciers sitting above them and at the far end of Laguna Sucia you could see and hear a collection of water falls snaking down a granite wall, their waters flowing to meet the deep turquoise lake.
I meandered back to Olivia and resumed my sunbathing. Not fifteen minutes later, I was studying the clouds and noticed they were changing from white into a shade of grey, with an ominous tinge of yellow. I hopped up and suggested to Olivia that it was time to leave. We packed up and headed down the switch backs and a brisk pace.
In half an hour, I looked back to see the massif completely consumed in not only cloud but a blizzard! Patagonia weather is outrageous and for the rest of the switch back path I thought about how scary it would be to experience that shift in weather while climbing up the spires of the massif.
The wild storm chased us all the way back to the first mile of the trail. A wall of rain licked at our backs, causing us to arrive back to town half soaked: our fronts completely dry and our backsides completely soaked through. After hot showers and a change of clothes, we reconvened at our favorite pub for a few celebratory drinks, we had finally made it to the Fitz Roy.
