Today was an awesome day here in Argentina. Not a cloud in the sky and a perfect day to set off hiking to one of the top 5 climbing destinations in the world, Monte Fitz Roy. Zac and I rented a car from Localiza (it was a Chevy Corsa as seen on the above) here in El Calafate. We then set off this morning around 7:00 and made it to the town of El Chalten (about 220km to our north) by 9:30. As we headed out into no mans land we saw off in the distance some 170km away our destination, Monte Fitz Roy. It just had a presence about it that made you think "yeah that's definitely the place were headed."
Patagonia is inundated with lamas. They were all over along the roadway to El Chalten. The guy at the car rental said to look out for them because they've been known to jump out into on coming traffic and basically destroy a vehicle. This could have cost us big. $AR 8,000 pesos (~$3000 bucks). We got lucky and no accidents occurred.
Once we reached El Chalten we stopped off at the park information center and found a trailhead that would lead us to the Fitz Roy (left) and it's cousin Cerro Torre (below). It was a moderate hike that put you at the base of Cerro Torre. What a site it was. Glaciers surrounded the base of this mountain so anyone wanting to climb it first had to wade through all that snow.
Tomorrow we're off to Chile so it will be mostly a traveling day. Friday we'll be heading to Torres del Paine. Some say this is the finest park South America has to offer. Can't wait to see it!
Child's play. I could climb that blindfolded with my hands tied behind my back.
ReplyDeleteStill no photos showing the narrator in any of these cool places. Rumors are buzzing around the office that he's really in Ocala National Forest.
ReplyDeleteLooks fantastic! Be careful out there Mike! :-)
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