Argentina 9 – Chasing Mount Fitzroy

Mount Fitzroy sits between Chile and Argentina at 3,375 meters high. It is dominant in the landscape, except we couldn’t see it because it was cloudy. In fact it wasn’t just cloudy on one particular day we had sun, rain and snow!  Chalten is an indigenous name meaning smoking mountain because there is cloud on it!

We walked one morning to the Mirador los Condores. It was very cold and very windy. We did see Condors but they were a way off. We wandered to get a view of Lake Viedma.

Jayne took photos of this striking bird. It’s quite common here but we hadn’t seen one before.

On this walk we noticed hoof prints in the muddier sections often on very steep inclines but we had not seen any cows. We were quite baffled, where there mountain climbing cows here? We found out more after we left this area but I’ll come to that in a later post!

We got back to El Chalten and took a few pictures of the town before the rain and snow set in and we went to find a coffee shop. We actually found decent coffee for a change!

Another day, we set off up a different trail. On the way back we got tantalising glimpses of Mount Fitzroy.

I cannot tell you how breathtaking this place is. Within a short walk you are in magnificent scenery and you’re not that much above sea level. Obviously if you want, there are more strenuous hikes but we were happy to meander.

I was fascinated by this boulder, left by a glacial flow at one time and perched precariously. I can understand why people believed in giants and gods. It looks so out of place, a giant marble!

We see the Aguja Poincenot (mountain peak) come into view, Mount Fitzroy  frustratingly is behind it. I took dozens of photos, no wonder my camera is struggling with storage! If only the cloud would go!

We give up and head down the slope.

We get back down to the visitor centre and while I’m looking at the flowers, Jayne wanders up and says in her Derbyshire accent “thats not it, is it?” Understatement of the week! Mouth Fitzroy is clear!

We leave El Chalten and head next to El Calafate (named after a Berberis plant) but I’ll leave you with Mout Fitzroy views because I became a bit obsessed with it!