El Chaltén

Location Description

228 photos

We stopped at a cafe along the way (literally the only...
Getting closer to El Chaltén. Seeing Cerro Torre and...
Sunset over the Andes during the drive to El Chaltén.
So long sun...
Cerro Torre (left) and Fitzroy (right) on an...
Looking out the front window of our shuttle bus as we...
Cerro Torre and Cerro Fitzroy. Patagonia logo, I think....
View out the window of our 50 peso per night hostel...
Jay, ready to conquer the mountain.
Walking through the sleepy streets of El Chaltén.
Cool old army van with the Fitz looming in the background.
Leaving the little frontier town of El Chaltén behind...
Jay passing some backpackers as we start the our hike...
Jay starting the hike to Cerro Torre.
Looking down on the river that flows from the Cerro...
First view of Cerro Torre, literally tower mountain. A...
Cerro Torre and Cerro Fitzroy in one view.
Playing around with the wide format option on my camera....
Cerro Torre, widescreen edition.
John with Cerro Torre and Cerro Fitzroy, self portrait.
Trying to do a timed self-portrait, I believe.
Neat looking dead tree.
Jay coming up the path. Poor Jay, I don't think he was...
Watching television Patagonia style... Patagoniavision.
Seriously the most beautiful mountain I have ever seen. ...
John with the whole landscape behind him.
John, in paradise.
Closeup.
Jay hiking toward Cerro Torre. At this point, I don't...
Jay with Cerro Torre in the background.
Having a good day out.
Cerro Torre post card shot. I never get sick of looking...
These UFO-like clouds are formed by very high winds,...
It should have been about this point we should be...
Jay and UFO clouds.
Hiking through a bucolic little forest section.
Walking down some steps to a small stream crossing.
Gray glacial fed mineral rich water flowing from the...
Jay saying hi.
At this point it got extremely windy so Jay and I took a...
As we rounded the corner for our final close-up view of...
Cerro Torre's glacier (at left) but besides that mostly...
Jay next to the Cerro Torre lake.
Bird held motionless in the air above us by the strong...
Bird suspended in air.
Jay hiking up an exposed ridge line to get a better view...
Wow it was windy and cold!
Cerro Torre glacier, up close.
Self-portrait at my designated turnaround time (Jay took...
Jay hiking back down.
Chunks of the glacier, held against one side of the lake...
Jay inspecting the glacial debris.
Jay inspecting the glacial debris.
Making our way back to town.
Sunshine rays beaming down on Jay, who was a real...
Just a glorious afternoon, except for how Jay was feeling.
Self portrait.
Comic sans was sadly popular for trail signs in Patagonia.
Jay dragging his weary bones back into El Chaltén.
Good example of typical construction in El Chaltén. I...
Pretty sweet old Volkswagen.
Jay, standing in front of a pizza parlor with a very...
This guy has been a few places. I didn't realize it was...
We decided to take a short hike up to some mirador or...
Leaving the little town of El Chalten behind.
Jay looking back toward town.
Jay and these red flowers we kept seeing.
Pretty red flowers.
The town from our mirador. It's actually a pretty spot,...
Sign at the entrance to town. "Capital Nacional de trekking"
Jay decided to rest for the afternoon and I probably...
The fog that had rolled in yesterday afternoon showed no...
Bad blurry picture from a moving bus. Pink flamingos. ...
Abandoned mining vehicle or something. Guess it got...
A nice solitary hike in the Patagonian woods.
Some glacier on private land. This was as close as you...
Neat looking glacier up close.
Setting the camera up on a rock and using a timer to try...
Old man of the mountain.
Looking back toward the Northeast.
Still having fun with the camera timer.
Getting better and better at these.
A very long thin lake that runs between these mountains....
Widescreen self portrait.
Still lots of clouds and fog rolling in off the ice...
I see faces in places!
Great looking forest.
Another self portrait.
Next I went hiking along the lake. The water was very clear.
Self portrait by the lake.
Trying to get me and the lake in a single shot.
Walking along the shore of the lake.
Pretty waterfall along the drive back to town.
Some more pink flamingos. Very far away.
Foggy view of where Cerro Fitzroy should be.
Crossing a bridge on the bus.
Jay relaxing at Aylen Aike with proprietor Alberto.
Jay and I head out in a cab the next morning to take us...
Cerro Fitzroy is showing its cold stony face! An...
Our cab driver had this goofy blue eyed baby husky plush...
Leaving the National park to the north. We would start...
Outside the park, since we were upstream, we saw much of...
Nice view!
This seemed to be some sort of device used for...
Jay, a little chilly in the early morning air.
Cool burnt tree that looks like an elf's shoe.
Starting to get our first views of Cerro Fitzroy, still...
Beautiful!
And then for a moment it was clear! Cerro Fitzroy's...
Having a good day out.
And then the Fitz got covered up with clouds again, just...
Too much contrast for this to be a good shot.
Bridges Across Patagonia. The Album. For Catherine.
Self portrait while hiking toward Fitzroy.
"Los Tres" as they are called. Fitzroy on the right and...
Jay said this is what he pictured most of Patagonia looking like.
I'm sure glad I had that nice beard to keep my face warm!
Jay with Los Tres in the background. The lake we are...
It was such fun getting little glimpses of Fitzroy in...
Hiking in the woods.
Interesting that Hebrew was the third language they...
No jamming tree logs through the doors of existing tents.
Jay crossing a river on our way to Laguna De Los Tres. ...
Starting the hike up the endless switchbacks. At least...
Also, since we came in the park through the "back door"...
Jay, thinking hard about something obviously.
The trail was actually kind of treacherous because it...
Getting close to the top! Now the trail is totally...
Los Tres up close.
John, pretty psyched to be here.
Jay taking a breather at the top of this long climb. ...
Climbing the last hill in our way.
Looking back toward Lake Viedma (far, far distance). ...
That hill on the left is where we would eat lunch.
Los Tres, widescreen edition.
John, finally arrived at the smurf-blood blue Laguna De Los Tres.
Los Dos and the Laguna.
John and Jay, pretty thrilled with this hiking adventure.
Another shot.
One more more serious looking pose.
What a bizarre color. These icebergs had all fallen...
There's always a higher mountain.
John, with Lago Viedma in the far distance. This is...
One of the French girls who was staying in our youth...
View of the seracs lying just above the lake.
Self portrait with Jay's head in the pic too.
John, again. We never really got sick of taking...
Yikes, looks like I'm about to tumble off the edge.
Even better shot. This would be fun to play with in Photoshop.
The yawning abyss.
Jay trying to capture a glimpse of the Fitz.
Hard to believe these mountains have been climbed. The...
Jay, as the mountains finally clear up a bit.
Even better! You can see why Cerro Chalten means...
Still enjoying the view.
Smoking mountain and John.
Crazy!
Almost entirely clear!
It looks cold and windy up on top.
What a day!
Jay continuing to watch Patagonivision.
I think at this point we are at about 5,000 ft....
Still all smiles.
I decided to go take a short hike to the next mountain...
If you look really close, you might be able to spot Jay.
Also, some people decided to go walk out on the frozen...
Some damaged weather equipment maybe?
Jay, as we pack up to head back to town.
Jay, getting ready to go back to El Chaltén.
Pretty view toward Lake Viedma.
Neat rock formations that look fun for climbing.
Jay with Lake Viedma in the background.
Never getting tired of this view.
Hiking back down. Now that it is afternoon, all the ice...
As we leave, the Fitz gets swallowed up by clouds again.
Neat cloud formation.
Jay walking down the path.
Really pretty view of glacier fed lakes and enormous...
Taking a break on the hike down.
Jay coming down the trail.
Filling our water bottles from an icy stream
Apparently the water is clean enough here there is no...
Next activity: taking pictures underwater with our...
Here's what the river looks like from underwater.
Pretty picture that looks like reflections but is...
I got a bad bug bite on my left cheek. (Taken from underwater.)
The water was so clear and calm it barely distorted our...
All of this underwater photography turned my hand bright...
John, dead in Patagonia. Jay said he thought this is...
On my feet again.
Bridges Across Patagonia, heavy load edition. Only 1 at a time.
Careful! Don't fall in! The water was surprisingly deep...
Taking a breather.
More underwater photography.
Back down on somewhat level ground, a few thousand feet...
On the hike back to town.
Jay, trying to capture the storm in the background, but...
Bad storm clouds on Cerro Fitzroy.
Even more dramatic. Amazing how the light and cloud...
Perfectly blue sky up top, and raging snow storm on the...
So dramatic!
Self-timer shot, trying to capture the storm, but again...
Beautiful light coming through the clouds.
Stopping at a peaceful lake with some campsites and a...
Beautiful shot, I think. Taken with a fair amount of...
Trying to zoom in even further to capture detail at the...
Los Dos.
A big tourist group had taken over most of a very large...
This part of the park reminded me a lot of Zion National...
John, pondering the vast valley below.
Pretty patch of sunlight that snuck through the clouds somehow.
John and Jay, ready for dinner. Don't we look so...
This definitely felt like southern Utah.
Jay checking out the view as we hike back to town. I...
Looking up valley to the north. Chile is back there somewhere.
Jay, taking a breather and enjoying the view.
What a spectacular place!
Back at the trail head. Long list of things not to do.
We were definitely ready for dinner by this point.
Old farm house or sheep house. Looked especially rustic...
Cool green Mercedes truck. I think it had been...
Ever thought of climbing Cerro Torre? This is what it...
At the breakfast table. Not too much fresh fruit in these parts.
Schlepping our stuff to the bus terminal to catch a ride...
Jay had a pretty good setup for carrying two backpacks at once.
Two hoodies on top of each other. Comfy! I guess it was...
Some of the buses we saw had steel fences on the...
Taking our 50 peso ride back to El Calafate.