One of the more difficult of the “regular” walks in the Chalten area is the one we took the day after Christmas. Recommended for a really clear day—as it affords views into Chile, we thought we’d give it a go. The rangers estimated the full walk as being about 4 hours one way, and a constant uphill, although dramatically so for the last couple of hundred meters. The total ascent is about 1000 meters.
Without any doubt the most incredible of the walks we have done so far, in that the end offers the most awe-inspiring and wide-ranging view of the area that we’ve yet had the privilege to see. Add to that the unusually fine weather, and the formula couldn’t be more perfect.
Leaving from the national park headquarters, the ascent is immediate, banking a small canyon with a loudly rushing river, although the light at that time of day afforded us no views of the waterfalls. We only actually saw them on our return. The trail is scrubby and open, but there are spots of southern beech and all manner of daisy-like flowers along with the usual thorny flowering mounds crawling alongside the trail.
Eventually there is a spot of forest, which is then seamlessly transformed into an emerald-green grassy open pastureland, where we heard lowing and eventually spotted a herd of cows huddled together in the shade of a small grove of trees. By this time we could see the distant endpoint looming ahead—way up high. Crossing the fields we reached a winding path leading through a much denser beech forest, which took about one hour to traverse.
Upon exiting the forest, the terrain changes dramatically again. The grasses very rapidly thin out and soon one is walking through an extremely rocky landscape, one with a small spectrum of color, very occasionally accented with small alpine-like flowers, tiny moss and lichen-like growths that give the barren landscape some small highlights of beauty. This is a fragile environment, and there is signage asking trekkers to remain on the path so as not to destroy the precarious plant life. The path reaches a plateau that looks lunar, and which give the first full view of the most famous peaks—Torre, Poincenot and Fitzroy.
We parked ourselves on one of the only large rocks, had our lunch while admiring the view and enjoying a brief respite from the annoying flies due to the increased wind barreling up from distant glaciers.
Hemmed and hawed about the dire-looking final ascent, but decided that the view must be something spectacular, as confirmed by a young Argentine guide who was leading a couple of Americans up the pass. “Imperdible y inolvidable,” (unmissable and unforgettable), so on that note, we felt there were no options left…
Packed up, and headed up what was basically a very rudimentary track up a monumental mound of slivers and slabs of slate. Essentially this is a moraine, that hasn’t yet been entirely pulverized by weather and time. Speaking strictly for myself, by the time we were half way up, despite the ever more jaw-dropping views, I found myself worrying about how I’d make it down in one piece… but luckily Andres is an excellent mountain cheerleader, and kept me going.
The view at the top of this final hill (loma) is indeed mindboggling on a gorgeous day. There is a 360 degree panorama, including the snow laden mountains in Chile, the more familiar Torre(complete with glacial lake and glacier extension), Fitzroy and all the neighboring crags, along with every other point that has now become familiar. Every lake/lagoon we’ve walked to or near, the thundering river that runs through town, the valley that leads up to Lago del Desierto(almost 40 km north), and then coming fully around, the spine of rock that skirts the eastern side of Chalten, the open plains of rusty scrub we crossed to come here from the south, and then the enormous Lake Viedma, and a few other landmarks for serious climbers and trekkers, in the valley south, all of which require multiple nights of camping, due to the distance.
Took the requisite photos, chatting briefly with a lone walker from Buenos Aires who’d left his pregnant wife in town to make the trek alone, and then briefly panicked when we had a difficult time finding the track back down the steep and slippery hillside.
On the way stopped to take lots of pictures of the beautiful flowers and plants that have taken my fancy of late….and then enjoyed the return trip’s downhill nature….
Hope the photos do the walk justice, and apologies that my options don’t allow me to put them in sequential order.
I'm jealous!
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