Cerro Torre is another of those shark-tooth mountains in the area, and we decided to make the walk to the glacial lagoon that offers the best view of this peak and its surroundings. The walk begins with a fair ascent, eventually leveling off as one reaches the first ample view of Torre and cronies. As one reaches this viewpoint, after about one and a half hours, the Fitzroy River lies deep in the valley, still thundering across boulders and stones, but the panorama opens to the mountains beyond.
For the remainder of the walk—about 2 and a half to 3 hours, the terrain is changeable and mercifully flat. There are vast areas of dead woods—notably the southern beech(here called nothofagus or nire(should have a tilde on the n!) , which is the only plant that is a tree. It grows contorted and wind shorn, often losing branches, and ranges in size from minute to sizeable. Presumably the spring melts have decimated acres of these Patagonian wind survivors, and we pass a virtual cemetery of them, before entering a shady forest, with a tremendous variety of alpine-like flowers.
We reached the end of the trail at the Agostini campground, which is maintained by the national park. All the campgrounds are free, but offer no commodities beyond water—in the river—and one pit toilet. They are, however, free. We eat our picnic lunch sitting on a log near the river, watching a huge bird of prey strutting through the grounds. A campground predator.
We headed away from the campground, the final leg to the lagoon. Coming around the final bend a fierce wind assaulted us, and we joined a couple who were sitting behind a stone wall to take cover from the wind. From there the view was indeed spectacular. Some photos of the walk:
Just for your information, Cerro (Mt.) Torre is the really pointy and largest of the spires in the photos. The massive snowcapped mount which appears to have a “c” in the shape of the snowfield is Cerro Solo.
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