Hola All,
4.5 hrs bus trip and we are at el chalten with a little cloud cover obscuring the mountains but quite nice and sunny otherwise. Little town with some spectacular walks directly from the end of the streets. We planned to be out for 7 days.
Problem. We had all our gear. Solution. Head into the hills fill some yellow waterproof bags, cover them with pacsafe mesh, hide them in the scrub and chain them up. Found a perfect spot on the way up to...
We asked the same old question. Why are our packs getting heavier when we have shed so much gear? Hmmm. something to do with all the packs of biscuits and snacks that we were taking. While others are living on soup we are enjoying big meals and not feeling hungry! Guess that answers our question.
Day 1. camped at de agostini at the base of a glacial lake with a large glacier.
Day 2. stayed another night at de agostini. Walked up to the glacier lookout on the morraine. Raining and cold and the wind was picking up. Got back into the tent and read all day. Waited for breaks in the rain to cook food. Toilet breaks ? needed to be like camels.
Day 3. raining and snowing. Headed over to poincenot camp area and got absolutely smashed up by the driving wind and snow. Had to wear cold weather gear with balaclavas to protect our faces. Nice with protection from the wind and under beech trees next to a clear creek. Snow and cold overnight. Puffer jackets in sleeping bags.
Day 4. Awoke to 100mm of snow. No mountain in site. Weather deteriorated. Moved camp to laguna capri. Storm overnight. Gale force winds with powerful gusts and heavy snow. Tent felt like it would blow away all night. Campsite was not well protected.
Day 5. Running low on fuel. Decided to walk out. Finally the mountains cleared and no winds. Snow all over the mountains. Walked out and met a conga line of day trip tourists, most of which missed the condors rising to the side of the track. Booked a bus back to el calafate, found the bakery, recovered our gear. Drove out to stunning views of the mountain range, green lake with bold blue icebergs, flamingos in lakes next to horses and sheep. Magnificent.
Heading to puerto madryn tomorrow. Not looking forward to the 21 hrs on a bus! 4 hrs back to rio gallegos and 17 hrs to puerto madryn.
Adios,
David and Vanessa
