Trekking Mecka El Chalten

19.04.2010 - 23.04.2010 3 °C
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Off next to the trekking capital of Argentina, El Chalten. This little mountain village is built in some of the most amazing settings you could ever wish for.

Ana, the girl that I replaced, quit her job to make a change on her live and move on. After many adventures, she found in El Chalten all she was looking for and so she decided to settle... She even bought a hippie caravan!

Ana and her hippie caravan!

I stayed in contact with her while I was living in Spain and I wrote to her just before starting our trip... I promised to go and visit her...and so we did! and how couldn't we? El Chaltén is such a lovely place!

It was snowing the first few days so we decided to just go for some short hikes to warm up and wait for better weather to come.

We visited El Chorrillo del Salto, a lovely spot with all you need to just sit down and dream away: a waterfall, colourful trees, the sound of the river... the perfect components to give you the desired intimacy with the nature...
We also went mountain biking one day. The area is really amazing: snowcovered peaks, curving rivers, even the trees are cool! Also since its low season, there are very few tourists around.

Biking El Chalten surroundings...

Monkey man in Chorrillo del Salto waterfall

We wanted to do some ice trekking, but most guide companies had closed down for the season already. Luckly Ana knew some guides and we managed to organise a tour for a really good price.

Finally on the day of the ice trekking the sky cleared up. There was a 4 hour trek to get to the glacier, so we had a early 7am start. The pace was set high right from the beginning and we hardly stopped until we reached the glacier. After the sun came up we saw the Cerro Torre peak. Absoutely stunning! Cannot believe that people have actually managed to climb this peak...its nearly 1 km vertical mountain face. It is amazing how looking and admiring the nature can put you down to earth. How do we dare to damage the environment the way we do? they just offer beauty!!!

Anyway, once we reached the lake and the sun was fully up, it truly was heaven on earth... we continued two more hours and there it was the glacier...but, to our surprise, there had been snowing the last two days and the glacier was covered with snow. The "walking on ice" had become "walking on snow"! There would not be any ice climbing; we would get into the glacier but we would have to watch out for the crevasses as the snow had covered them!the scenario looked so cool! .
Can you imagine? We walked across the ice!

The day after, we had planned to do a two day trek, camping in the wild, but it was too cold and we were too tired after the walk we did (a 12 hours trek!). So we decided to Laguna Capri and Laguna Madre e Hija...a very nice walk...still a worthy 7 hours trek. It is funny how snow makes everything prettier, brighter...stands out all the colours and makes a really cool mix!

After all this, I confirm that one has to be cold to see the best places ever in the world. I have reached glory!

Posing in front of Cerro Torre