Fitz Roy: Day 1
**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.**
The wind blew with vengeance most of our first night in El Chaltèn, but by morning had tapered off to a light breeze. It continued to rain until mid-day, and the view outside our hostel was a murky stew of clouds. It was the kind of day that, if you did not need to hike, you wouldn’t, since there was no view to be had. Unless of course you believe that hard work is its own reward.
This was simply not going to be a fit day to attempt any of the major hikes out of El Chaltèn. But that’s the good thing about this great hiking Mecca; you can chose where and when to hike, and when NOT to hike. It all depends on how much time one has, for a day surrendered to the weather meant one less day to hike.
By going to ground this bleak day, Brian was aware that he was surrendering the Loma del Pliengue Tumbado (“Lying Fold Knoll.”) This hike, to the southwest of town, leads to what many consider to be the best view in the park, the only one where you can see both Cerro Torre and Cerro Fitz Roy in the same view. There was always tomorrow, of course, and the weather forecast was more favorable. But we had already decided that the best option for the following day was Laguna Torres. (As it came to pass, this was the right decision.) There was absolutely no question that our third day in town — the one with the most favorable weather forecast — would be saved for the park’s premier hike, Laguna de los Tres.
Sylvia and Brian were at this point still quite exhausted from the travails of the W, and with all the chasing of boats, buses and missing pack covers, we’d had absolutely no chance to rest. An easy recovery day might not have been the worse thing for either of us, a day where one could sample the pleasures of El Chaltèn. There were many such pleasures to sample.
The rain dried up by mid morning, but the skies continued to be leaden-gray and looked very sketchy. So we headed off to a cafe to await developments. It seemed promising that the skies might clear enough by late afternoon to allow a shorter hike to one of the less weather dependent viewpoints around town. We considered the Chorillo del Salto, a waterfall north of town. Also there were a pair of viewpoints south of town, which in fact could be easily seen from our hostels. It seemed the views from that direction were more promising.
One of the nicest things about El Chaltèn, apart from just the food in general, is the opportunity to mingle with other international hikers and swap stories — to hear about what they had done and still wanted to do. Since many tables in this tiny town are ‘shared’ (with strangers) during busy times, it’s a prime opportunity to do so.
The evening before we’d met a couple from Edmonton, Alberta, who had just completed almost the exact itinerary we had done. They provided us excellent information on the Laguna de los Tres Hike — which they had completed in excellent weather — that convinced Brian once and for all that the way to do the hike was out of El Pillar. We swapped stories of the Tour du Mont Blanc for their tales of the Gallapagos Islands over beers.
After an excellent lunch in the very busy Italian restaurant of Maffia Trattoria (most of the popular restaurants in El Chaltèn are mobbed around lunch and dinner time) we decided the weather had cleared enough for us to attempt some short hikes. The number of people we saw enjoying lunch in town convinced us that most hikers would be going to ground today. An afternoon hike while the crowds were distracted with beer and Argentine beef might work out in our favor.
We decided the Mirador Condores/Mirador Aguiles (Condors and Eagles) hikes south of town would be our destination. Events would demonstrate that title to be at least half true when we hiked.
The trail for the Condors and Eagles rising just behind the National Park visitor center; you can actually see the first part of this hike as it snakes over grassy hillsides. To reach this from town you must cross the bridge over the River (rio) Fitz Roy. This of course made us homesick for our third team member, Fitz Roy the dog, who even as we hiked patiently awaited our return.
The first part of the trail is somewhat steep, but it soon reached a ridge where an intersection appears. El Chaltèn is now spread out below the hiker like a tourist map. From the intersection one can go left and in about ten minutes arrive at the Condors lookout. We chose the longer option, which breaks right and heads to higher ground for the eagles lookout.
This trail follows a grassy ravine with trees in its bottom on the right. Soon the trail emerges out of this ravine and into wide open grassy hillsides. We kept looking behind us for the big peaks, which we’d seen a few shadowy glimpses of; but they remained shy.
It wasn’t long before the trail arrives at the Mirador Aguiles. No eagles here, but there is a super view out across the plains to Lago Viedma. One could easily see large icebergs floating around in this lake, which was far less grayish in color than Lago Grey had been.
With no eagles in sight Sylvia decided to do her best impersonation of one.
The peaks to the south of two were at least partially out of the clouds, and it looked like last night’s rain had fallen as snow on the high elevations.
From the mirador one can climb higher to a large rocky knob just above the view…and from there, an enterprising hiker could scramble even further up increasingly steep series of knolls.
Brian kept his eye out not only for a glimpse of Cerro’s Ftiz Roy and Torre — which refused to play along and stayed hidden — but also on the grassy hillsides to the west, which were devoid of people, and so would be good country for grazing animals such as sheep, deer and vicuna. And that, so Brian thought, might make them good places for puma to hunt. But he spotted neither grazers nor predators this day.
We would however have a wildlife encounter. A backtrack down the trail took us to the Condors lookout. As we neared the rocky knoll that forms the main lookup, Sylvia was nearly struck by a huge, low flying bird swooping in close for a look. Truth in advertising…We had come to the Condors Lookout and…Look out, Condors!
Unfortunately Sylvia did not have the camera ready and all we have to show for it is pictures from a distance. Oh well. At length, as many as three Condors were visible from the lookout.
(This was not out first encounter with a Condors…we have seen them before at the Grand Canyon and, more recently, at the Cross of the Condors in Peru.)
In addition to Condors, the lookout also has a great birds (condors?) eye view of El Chaltèn. Even though the high peaks steadfastly refused to emerge, the high cloud cover was no impediment to viewing the entire town and the confluence of rivers it sits on. (The Rio’s Fitz Roy and de las Vueltas.)
Our recommendation is to climb a bit higher to the prominence behind the mirador, keeping to the rock as you do so to avoid damaging fragile vegetation. There are views from both sides here.
All in all this trip took us about two plus hours, and was well worth it. We were able to get out hiking legs back. Later, as we skulked about town, the sky cleared enough so that Fitz Roy again appeared for an early evening curtain call.
We hoped this would bode well for tomorrow. We had made a good day of it despite the washout, but we needed better weather for our ambitious plans. The forecast for the morning was still iffy, but rain or shine we planned to invest that day hiking out to the Laguna Torre, with its viewpoint of the park’s second most celebrated peak — Cerro Torre.
Did You Know? The Andean Condor, all things considered, is held to be the largest flying bird in the world. It has a wingspan of up to ten feet — the longest of any terrestrial bird — and the four marine species that have longer wingspans are all lighter in weight.
Next Up: Cerro Torre