Time for some more pics! This time I'm posting from Fort Collins, Colorado. The mercury is rising to 105 today so what better way to stay cool than review some icy pics from Argentina's Los Glaciares National Park!
After the cruise dropped us off in Punta Arenas, Chile, we back-tracked up through Puerto Natales and crossed the border to Argentina heading to El Calafate (a touristy mountain town not too different from Breckenridge or Estes Park) and then onto El Chalten, a much smaller village adjacent to the Monte Fitzroy massive (You may recognize Fitzroy as the mountain on the Patagonia logo). Where in Torres del Paine we had days of cloudy weather and snow, the weather in Chalten was clear, crisp, with atypical cloudless skies.
Some readers may be curious whether we preferred Fitzroy to Torres del Paine. Our verdict that it's really worth seeing both. The land crossing is easy and the visa fee for Americans in only collected in Santiago and Buenos Aires so there's no extra cost to hop over the border between Chile and Argentina (we crossed into Argentina 3 times and flew home from EZE without ever having to pay the Argentine fee). Torres has a huge variety of dramatic scenery where Fitzroy is less diverse but just as spectacular. Torres give you more of a wilderness experience while all of the major sights near Fitzroy can be done as day hike or overnight trips. Chalten is cheaper than Puerto Natales (and there are no fees for camping in Los Glaciares) but you have to go through much more expensive Calafate to get there, in my experience, evening out the costs between the two destinations. Really, if you are coming this far south, why not take the extra couple of days to see what both sides have to offer? We recently met a fellow traveler in Tennessee (small world right?) who managed to fly down, trek in both parks, and visit the glaciers in an incredible 16 days!
Enough talk...bring on the pics!
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| El Calafate. Our stopover point on the way to El Chalten |
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| Sheep along the road from El Calafate to El Chalten |
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| Tony next to Fitzroy in the distance. One of the first of the 200+ pics we'd take of the awesome peak. |
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| On the road to El Chalten |
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| Our first hike to view the Torre mountains on the south side of Fitzroy |
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| Fall colors heading to the Torres |
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| The torres are the spires on the right. Fitzroy is actually behind them. |
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| Ice floating in Laguna Torre |
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| Tony climbing a tree on our way to the Fitzroy viewpoint. |
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| And Mt. Fitzroy.... without a cloud in sight! |
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| Sunrise on Mount FItzroy |
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| Looking down on El Chalten |
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| Tasty reward for all of that hiking! |
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| Argentine naval station in Chalten (which is completely landlokced). |
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| Our favorite place in Chalten...the most amazing empanadas of our trip! |
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| Caprese empanadas! |
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| Sunrise on Viedma Lake |
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| This is the Viedma Glacier- which has a narrow face but has over 20 km (nearly 8 sq mi) of ice making it larger than the Grey Glacier in TDP and the more famous Perito Moreno Glacier near Calafate. It's also alot more stable (with less calving) which makes it perfect for ice trekking! |
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| Crevasse! (Thinking of Bear Grylls) |
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| Crevasse!! |
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| Looking into the ice is like looking at a wave in the ocean. |
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| Tony would love to be ice climbing! |
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| Surf's up! |
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| Crevasse!!! |
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| More blue ice |
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| Climbers scaling an overhang |
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| For scale- look at the 2 climbers on the right |
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| Tony taking a nap |
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| Gigantic iceland in Lake Viedma |
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| Calafate plant- they say if you eat this you will return to Patagonia. I hope it's true and we will be back for another adventure! |
