Left the bustle of bus tours behind us in El Calafate, and moved 230km north along the infamous Ruta 40 (the endless north-south national highway) to El Chalten, Argentina’s self-declared capital of trekking. The town has recently hit the 1000 inhabitants mark, and lies within the northern section of the National Glaciers Park. It is a study in contrasts: wi-fi is prevalent, but the only ATM is town is more of a tourist attraction than a useful entity. The roads are mostly gravel, but there are recycling bins for all manner of material all over town. Dogs of all sizes and non-breeds wander the streets and are friendly. A few tiny markets, a host of places to stay—most of them simple hostels—, restaurants and a few outfits that sell sundry items round out the landscape. The locals and the visitors walk in the middle of the road, and everyone and everything is subject to the undiscriminating wind, which blows with wild abandon down the mountainsides and through the valley.
The mountains surrounding the town are some of the toughest to climb in the Andes—the crown jewel here being the Cerro (Mt) Fitzroy, a gargantuan pointed rock that actually gave the town its name. In the local indigenous language, the mountain is called El Chalten, which means “smoking mountain”. The name refers to the fact that there are often wisps of cloud whirling around the very top of the mountain.
We checked in with the local park rangers—who are extremely helpful, and have set up a program to give a small orientation about “being green” within the park to every visitor. Every bus that enters town is required to stop for this short session, with explanations in English or Spanish. Despite the small size of the station, they appear to be a dedicated and informed crew. They gave us excellent tips on how to check the very changeable weather in the area—windguru.com –which goes into all sorts of detail which really helps plan daily treks.
Our first short jaunt was to check the viewpoints (miradores) at Los Condores and Las Aguilas—a fairly short walk up the mountains closest to the ranger station. From one side, one sees El Chalten in the valley, from the other, Lake Viedma and the vast emptiness of Patagonian scrub.
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