El Calafate and El Chaltan

Calafate and Fitzroy

I would highly recommend traveling Patagonia in the shoulder season, the crowds are much less and getting buses to places is so much easier. Instead of having to follow a strict itinerary with the inability to deviate from it, we have been able to be flexible with ours which has been nice. That being said, when we arrived at the bus station in Puerto Natales after finishing the O we planned to buy bus tickets to calafate for the next day so we could see the Perito Mireno glacier. But the main bus company was sold out till Saturday. We found a smaller company that could take us on Friday, but still we would be losing a day. When we only have a couple weeks left losing a day is sad. However, it would seem luck was on our side.

That evening we met up with several others we had done the O with for dinner. We were fortunate to meet a German couple who had rented a vehicle for the month and had the same travel plans as us for the next two days. Driving to calafate to see the glacier and then chaltan. We enjoyed traveling and getting to know them over the next two days.

The Perito Mireno glacier is huge and impressive. There's a nice walk one can take that provides great views of it. We witnessed several large ice chunks fall off the 70 meter glacier, providing an impressive sound and creating decent size waves.

El chaltan is a small town providing the base for people wanting to hike around Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre. We stayed there two nights. There's a couple treks recommended with the most popular being a circuit that goes to Cerro Torro and Fitzroy. There are 3 campsites on the circuit so it can be easily backpacked. We decided to shorten our time there and instead of doing the circuit in 3 or 4 days, we figured we could run/hike it in a day.

We arose with the sun and set off on the trail. Saw Cerro Torre first, a famous climbing area with an interesting history and then Fitzroy. The trail is pristine, smooth and fairly flat for the most part. We had some modest elevation gain at the beginning and middle, but for the most part a nice trail to run or backpack. The climb up to the base of Fitzroy is a kilometer off the main trail and climbs about 400 meters. Similar to the climb up to the base of the towers in Torres del Paine. Steep.

We saw Fitzroy around 11:30 in the valley and it was glorious. The clouds had not enshrouded the peaks yet, so we could see Fitzroy and the satellite peaks clearly. It has now become my new favorite place on earth. It'll take a lot to change that. We made the climb up to the base and took pictures in many different areas, staying up there for an hour or two. I didn't want to leave. But the weather was starting to look menacing and the peaks were covered in clouds so we descended down and then made our way back to Chaltan.

The entire run/hike was about 33 km. A doable distance in a day for anyone who wants to travel light and fast. It was nice not carrying our backpacks for the day.

Today we arrived in Ushuaia, known as the southernmost city in the world. We found good flight deals so we were able to fly out of calafate this morning. Tomorrow we start on another 4-5 day backpacking trek through mountains in Tierra del Fuego national park.