Chile/Argentina - Mt. Fitzroy (El Chalten)

We drove to El Chalten, a few hours from El Calafate, mainly to see Mt. Fitzroy - it was our "pilgrimage" and we had planned our trip around it.  But then came the physical abilities - we knew we could not do the "must-do" 8-10 hour trek to Laguna de los Tres, the glacial lake at the foot of the mountain.  Planning was the best part of the trip  - we watched videos on other people's treks starting at 3 am in the morning, visions of "hidden waterfalls" and mesmerizing sunrise views of the magical mountain.  But then again there is the reality - we got up at 5am the morning of the hike and made our way up the steep climb to Laguna Capri.  It took us two hours and we still missed the actual sunrise in spite of best efforts.  But the next best thing, the golden hour was still worth the climb, especially when we saw the difference in colours afterwards.  

There were other things to see in El Chalten of course.  There was the beautiful waterfall that we visited the day of arrival, just before the last light.  There was the amazing encounter with the kettle (large group) of condors circling the river with Fitzroy in the background - our car just stopped beside the highway.  There was the long road with the massif right in front of it, you can see sunrise and sunset without taking a hike!  Word of caution here for other travellers - don't let your car out of your sight while you're parked by the roadside - the risk of car break-ins are real!

This was our last stop before Buenos Aires so we celebrated with a nice dinner at Fuegia where I had the tastiest piece of Argentinian tenderloin - a fitting end to an amazing trip.

The view of Mt. Fitzroy from the highway - I don't know how many times we stopped on this stretch!

Chorillo del Salto - very accessible, just a few kms from El Chalten - we visited just before the light faded

We had to climb over a fence to get to this spot to watch the condors do their flying acrobatics all around us, apparently there was a carcass on the valley floor of the Rio de las Vueltas.  Too bad I didn't bring my birding lens on this trip and my slow landscape camera really stretched its limits with these shots, even though sometimes the condors were flying right in front of us.

Close up of Cerro Torre - beside Fitzroy - love those spikes!

Sedimentary rock layers on these fold mountains - a visual geography lesson

The glacier clearly visible in this close up near Fitzroy

The Rio de las Vueltas here cuts deeper into the valley as it meanders

This is the view after our two hour climb up to Laguna Capri 

Then the colour faded as the sun rose higher

Coming back down from the lake, we were able to see the wide river valley below us (which we didn't see on the way up because it was too dark)

The town of El Chalten laid out at our feet on the hike down

The last sunrise from the road - an intense red.  Too bad we had to make it to El Calafate for our flight.

This barely skims the surface of the sights around Fitzroy.  Wish I had visited when I was younger and able to do those hikes with specatcular views of glacial lakes and rivers.  My advice to my younger readers - do it while you're young!