PATAGONIA-El Chalten

El Chalten is a very small town that is in the heart of Patagonia. We had to fly into the only airport within Patagonia in the town of El Calafate and then a 3 1/2 hour bus ride to El Chalten. It is the gateway for all climbers heading up to Mt. Fitzroy or the Cerro Torre range. The whole town is nothing but hostels, bars and climbing stores so it was a great place to hang out. Everyone is there to trek or climb, so there are lots of great people to meet while waiting out the weather to get up to the mountains.

This is a glacier valley we hiked out of as we left the town on the way up to the mountains.
The river is a great turquoise blue from the glacier and the wind was howling.

There are such great colors and textures throughout the Patagonia landscape.
This is a glacier coming down off the Cerro Torre range.
Here we are on our way up to a series of lakes called Laguna del los Tres.
Here are the amazing Torre Towers coming out of the clouds.
Here is Liz getting some great tasting water on our hike out.





The pictures cannot really do justice to how amazing these peaks really. According to most climbers, Cerro Torre (the tall peak to the left) although only about 10,500 feet is one of the most difficult mountains in the world.

These paths are carved out by the powerful winds down here.
This is an amazing landscape with the glacier in the background.
This is us stopping to eat while hiding from the wind behind some bushes.






El Chalten, the wind gets funneled down to that small opening in the distance. That is where the river the road and the wind all go. You can't imagine how loud the wind is through that break in the rock.