Fitz Roy: Day 2
**Completed in November 2019, Fitz Roy (Los Glaciares National Park of Argentina) is Sylvia and Brian’s sixth BucketList adventure completed together. It is also the furthest they have ever ventured for a hike.**
Our second day in El Chaltèn began gray and cloudy, just as the last one had. But the promise of a better forecast — skies were expected to clear by afternoon — motivated us to attempt one of the major hikes in the Park, that being Laguna Torre…Tower Lake.
Tower Lake is the second most famous and sought after hike in the Fitz Roy area, after only Laguna de los Tres. However, you would get a good debate going as to whether or not it is the second best hike. Informed authorities might well point to Loma del Pliengue Tumbado (“Lying Fold Knoll”) or Lago Electrico instead.
The glacial lake itself is interesting. However, it is the tower that is the real point of interest…that being the granite spire of Cerro Torre. This 10,262 foot monolith somewhat resembles a single jagged finger of rock pointing skyward, a cosmic numero uno.
We had no guarantee that this impressive mountain would appear at all this day…even a day of relatively clear weather does not mean that the signature peaks of this area will come out from behind their resident curtains of cloud. But we felt compelled to try; we had only this day and one more remaining in the town, and that last day would — MUST — be used for the big one.
But even if no views presented themselves, at least we were unlikely to burn ourselves out on this hike. The Laguna Torre hike is considered fairly moderate, and this is part of the reason for its popularity. Of course we’d already seen some examples of tough Patagonian trails that others had labeled ‘moderate.’
For the second straight day we left the door of our hostel and walked directly to the trail head. It’s had to miss where this trail begins…it is well signed. There is a very steep first pitch up an earthen bank, maybe 100 yards in length (the trail officially begins atop this) then the way proceeds fairly level for a bit before another steep and rocky bit with a brief chain-assisted section. This gets one to thinking that perhaps the trail is not going to be as ‘moderate’ as first thought.
But that’s pretty much it in terms of difficulty — once though that second short steep section there’s no other serious challenges for the duration of this hike (except of course when you do this section again on the return.)
The ascent takes the trail up to the rim of a deep ravine with a stream running at the bottom. At the Mirador Margarita a long and impressive cascade comes into full view, and the hiker can pause here to take a brief wind break. We did not rest long though, for a large British tour group soon showed up and milled about all over the place, blocking both trail and views. This same situation would be repeated several times this day and also on the Laguna de los Tres hike. We soon developed a very strong…let’s call it a ‘phobia’ of tour groups.
After the Mirador Margarita the trail ascends down from the ridge to a bank just above the Rio Fitz Roy and follows its valley back towards the source, which happens to be Laguna Torre. Here the trail is mostly level for several miles, crossing though light woods, brush, and some rocky meadows. The path is easy to follow; even where there are occasional forks – usually to avoid some patch of boggy ground – the two ways generally join up later on. The high peaks of the Fitz Roy massif loom overhead, but we could not see their crowns through the intervening layers of cloud.
At a bit past the halfway point there is a viewpoint of the valley (and a toilet of you have need.) This area was again crowded with tour groups, besides which there was little in the way of view, so once again we pressed on.
Soon the trail approaches the big moraine that signals the glacier, and its attendant lake, is near at hand. After a sign for the campground (Campomento Agostini, named for the Italian missionary and explorer) the path begins a short climb up the moraine over scree, and then, before you can see Mirador…the view appears! Laguna Torre!
Except today, there was no Torre. Behold! Laguna Nube…The Lake of the Clouds!
We picked a (somewhat windy) spot, sat down and waited for the clouds to clear, which we hoped would happen soon. There remained some hope…the sun was clearly trying to burn through those clouds and the skies behind us, back the way we had come, were now cobalt blue. But none of this meant Cerro Torre was going to appear.
We were pleased to find that most of the larger tour groups go further along to a spot higher up on the moraine where there is doubtless a somewhat better view. But with little view to be had at the moment, we had no need to go there. Nothing to do but have a snack, observe the shifting patterns of light and clouds, and sit…and wait.
And wait.
And wait. Sometimes it seemed the clouds were about to part, only to close back in again more tightly than before. Once or twice, the foot of Cerro Torre emerged and raised our hopes that the rest might follow…but no. Cerro Torre was in a shy mood today. Though the sky above us was clear and the snow covered peaks to either side fairly shone in the sun, Cerro Torre kept itself coiled in a tight cloak of mist.
On a day when a better view presents itself, one might be temped to wander across the lake to the Mirador Maestri, where a closer view of mountain and glacier are gained. We could easily see this route traversing the right hand bank of the lake, but had no desire to follow it today with nothing to show for it but sweat.
Eventually we decided that enough was enough. The views we had were certainly not anything to dismiss, but it seemed a forlorn hope there would be more. Cerro Torre was not going to cooperate today; and in point of fact, neither did Fitz Roy…both of them remained hidden for the duration of the day. So we turned and headed back down the moraine and began our return to town.
The trail on the return seemed even easier than the outbound leg. And at the Mirador in the middle, we had a slightly better (though still cloudy) view than we’d had that morning.
In Patagonia, one cannot always expect a happy ending to a hike, and we came with realistic expectations about this one. We weren’t by any means disappointed by Laguna Torre. In clear weather, this is doubtless one of the world’s great hikes; even the parts of it we saw were still fairly impressive.
There is a very strong argument that there are better hikes (and certainly less crowded hikes) in the park than this one, apart from Laguna del los Tres, and that if one had a choice, one of those less crowded alternatives such as Lago Electrico or the Lying Fold Knoll should be attempted.
We agree this is probably the case. But still, it would be a shame to miss this great viewpoint in clear weather. One should not skip this hike. If we had it to do over and had clear weather, we’d certainly wish to return to LagunaTorre and see the place as it really should be seen.
But at any rate, it would not have mattered what trail we did on this day, there wouldn’t have been any views of the major peaks on any of them. Of all the major Patagonian hikes we did, this was by far the easiest. Laguna Torre was just what the doctor ordered; a fine shakeout for the bigger things expected tomorrow. We were fresh, well rested…and as ready to go as could be.
And we still had a very tough item, maybe the toughest one of this trip, remaining on the to-do list. And for that one item, we had our fingers tightly crossed…we needed our one last day in El Chaltèn to be clear for Laguna del los Tres.
And as we retired for the night, tomorrow’s forecast was for clear weather. We prayed that the fickle Patagonian climate would not pull one last trick on us.
Did You Know? A ‘mushroom’ of rime ice near the top of Cerro Torre makes it one of the most challenging mountaineering ascents in the world. Because of this it was not officially climbed until 1974, well after Fitz Roy; and this after several high profile deaths and controversies.
Next Up: Fitz Roy The Mountain