El Chalten, Patagonia.

After a great time in Bariloche we thought things couldn't get much better, but we hadn't been to El Chalten yet !!!!

First of all we had to endure a 24 hour bus trip down Route 40.  After an evening of Jason Stratham films we arrived in El Chalten.  Its Argentina's newest town, founnded in 1985 built to claim the land before Chile nabbed it.  Its Argentina's trekking and mountaineering capital and its not hard to see why with the Cerro Torre and Cerro Fitzroy towering over the town.  We immediately knew we were going to have a great time.

Welcome to El Chalten (Cerro Fitzroy in the background).

We had another brilliant Hostel called Aylen Ayke and the owner Sebastian is big heavy metal fan, my eyes lit up of the library of Iron Maiden and rock DVD he had !!!!

When we woke up on our first day the sun was shining bright and clear, so we decided to do a day hike up to the base of Cerro Torre and the glacier at its foot.

Heading off to Cerro Torre.

It was a fantastic hike through beautiful Alpine Meadows and forest up to the Glacian lake at the foot of the mountain.  There was quite a few people on the trail and we met our first Scotsman of the trip proudly wearing his Glengarry as he hiked.

Through the apline meadows.

Cerro Torre and Glacier.

Cerro Torre and Glacier again !!!

The next day we decided to join an Ice Climbing and trekking trip on the nearby Viedma Glacier.  We had never tried ice climbing before so it was great to have a go at a new sport.  We had to get a boat over to the glacier and we sailed past some huge icebergs on the way.  We passed the snout (front wall) of the glacier and was lucky enough to see some big chunks calve off.

Viedma Glacier

Iceberg.

Desn Ice Climbing.

Gillian was a natural !!!

After a mornings climbing we went on a trek round a part of the glacier.  We saw some spectacular crevasses, Moulins, Caves and at the end we we had a special treat !!!

Trekking over the ice

On the glacier.

Looking cool ;-) !!!

Enjoying a Baileys and million year old ice !!!

It was a memorable day out and we hope to do some more Ice climbing in the future.

Next up we decided to do a hike up to the base of Cerro Fitzroy.  This was a longer trek so we would have to take the tent and camp out for a night.

Ready for Fitzroy.

Fitzroy hiding in the clouds.

Starting to get a bit cold.

Base Camp in the woods.

Supper Time.

A bit nippy the next morning. 

Fresh snow on the walk to Fitzroy.

Gillian with Fitzroy (somewhere) in the background.

Looking back down the valley toward El Chalten.

Trudging back into El Chalten after an enjoyable weekend in the mountains.

El Chalten was a real highlight for us, so much trekking we would love to go back one day.  Our next destination would be our last in Argentina, El Calafate and the spectacular Perito Mareno glacier.