Two days of near perfect weather welcomed us to the austral paradise of El Chaltén. As our bus pulled into the town and we saw Fitz Roy and its neighboring peaks dominating the horizon as the sun set, the energy of the mountains struck us. The beauty of the landscape and excitement about tackling the next climb or trek filled the town, and no matter where we went, we overheard snippets of shared beta, retelling of gorgeous days in the mountains, and in typical Patagonia fashion, rumors of the next weather window.
Realizing two days of sun was a rare opportunity in Patagonia, we headed straight to Laguna de Los Tres to enjoy lunch and soak our feet whilst gazing up at the towering Fitz Roy massif. The trail winds through a forest, across a river, and then into a beautiful cirque with alpine lakes and mountains towering all around. On the next day, with the sky still an inviting shade of blue, we hiked to a viewpoint called Mirador del Pliege Tumbado. From here, we could see down into the Laguna Torre valley as clouds churned over Fitz Roy.
As the weather turned, we moved from our campground to a wonderful hostel full of climbers (Aylen Aike). When we arrived, we recognized our friend John from a previous hostel, and it was his birthday! Some other travellers who had met him made him a cake and we sang happy birthday as a little nomadic family.
The owner of the hostel, Sebas, used to be an avid climber/mountaineer, and when we asked him about climbing in the area, he identified routes from the kitchen window. We shared some mate with some new buddies with some hard rock music videos playing in the background, then set off afterward to go climbing!
The crag was just across the river from the hostel. Once you cross the bridge, the boundary effect from the cliffs results in much milder winds, so even on a couple otherwise windy days we were able to climb. We were joined by new friends from Argentina, Brazil, and Portland on route called “La Tradicional” by the locals, which gains 5 pitches over the town. The rest of our climbs were primarily sport climbs in nice dihedrals further down the cliff, and Alan lead a 6a (5.9/5.10a) trad route! The most remarkable characteristic of the crag was the views of town and of Fitz Roy when it decided to peek out from the clouds.
Leaving El Chalten was a difficult decision, especially with rumors of a weather window approaching in a few days. Knowing we’d be back to climb one of the peaks in the Fitz Roy range, we celebrated our time adventuring with a quarter kilo of ice cream from “Domo Blanco” (recommendations came with the phrase “best ice cream in the world”) and caught a night bus to Los Antiguos.
I would love to do some yoga there!