We arrived in the climber's paradise of El Chalten to grey skies and cold winds. This kind of weather continued for the next few days, thwarting my attempts to do some climbing, but it could not stop me from hiking around the national park. I even got to climb a small boulder!
The biggest attraction here is Mount Fitzroy, a tooth-shaped peak that towers over the town at a height of 3,359m. I'm not sure if it actually exists - it was covered with cloud the entire time I was there!
We made the steep hike up to the base and were greeted with not one, but two glacial lakes.
We got a glimpse of the mountain in the 42 seconds when the clouds cleared and then headed off to glacier Piedra. This was much more fun - getting there involved hopping along the huge boulder field that the glacier had pushed down the valley in the days when it was bigger. Waiting for us was another glacial lake, lots of clouds and a rainstorm. I spent most the time sitting under a huge boulder, hoping that an earthquake wouldn't dislodge it and squash me.
One of the best things about staying in a hostel is that you meet people from all over the world. We just so happened to share a dorm with a load of Israelis and got to join in the evenings Hanukkah candle lighting ritual.
After three days, the weather wasn't going to get any better so we headed South to El Calafate. There is one thing to do in El Calafate, visit the huge Perito Moreno Glacier. This bad boy is 250km² in size, 30km in length and is one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the world's third largest reserve of fresh water.
The glacier is always moving, about two meters a day, with spectacular results. Huge house-sized pieces of ice shear off and come crashing down into the water, sending waves and icebergs into the lake. We jumped on a boat for a closer look at the ice. The average height of the ice is 60 meters, taller than Nelson's Column. Unlike many other glaciers I've seen, it is fairly clean, and glows a chalky blue colour in the sun.
It was quite spooky sailing in front of the huge ice walls. Every few seconds something moved and huge thunder-cracks blasted out into the air. A large section fell off as we were passing on the boat and sent a big wave in our direction.
After the boat returned, we walked along the boardwalk for some great views onto the glacier. The sun was out so bits were falling off quite regularly. The whole time we were there, three huge pieces fell off. By complete coincidence, I happened to be filming when two of them happened! I almost never shoot videos, so the odds of this are about the same as winning the lottery. Should have bought a ticket this week. Anyway, check it out!
We walked around to the longer North side of the glacier to see this spectacular view. I have to say, this is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life. I cannot believe that such a thing has occurred naturally, and the sheer scale is mind-blowing.
Well, that was my last day in Argentina for a while, so we celebrated by visiting an all you can eat steak restaurant, complete with Argentinian folk music. Whatever that is.
I think they regretted letting us in - we pretty much ate a whole cow. Bellies full, we headed off to Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine national park.
The tourist information guy in El Calafate wasn't much help.
Blue ice as far as the eye can see.
A seriously mean looking bird of prey on the hike to Fitzroy.
Lucky I brought my hat - it was freezing!
The ice gets pushed along and cracks, splitting into large spiny towers along the way.
Huge ice walls get pushed out over the lake. When they go, they make some big waves. This bit looks like its gonna go someday soon.
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