Nestled in the heart of Patagonia, El Chalten is a paradise for hikers and climbers who come from all over the world for its free access and breathtaking landscapes. Here is our story hiking for 2 days in the midst of the autumn colours to the Mt Fitzroy and Cerro Torres, two legendary and iconic peaks of Patagonia.
El Chalten, a climbers and hikers paradise
El Chalten means “smoky mountain” in the Tehuelche language, in relation to the jagged peak of Mount Fitz Roy visible from the town and almost always covered with clouds.
The small town of El Chalten was set up by climbers as a base camp for their ascents of Mount Fitz Roy and the surrounding peaks. Doug Thompkins and Yvon Chouinard, the founders of The North Face and Patagonia were some of the first men to reach the summit, which from its 3,359 meters is reknown for being one of the most challenging climbs in the world.
The mountain is named in honour of Robert Fitz Roy, the captain of Charles Darwin’s second expeditions in South America, and the surrounding ones in memory of pioners such as Mermoz, Saint Exupery or Guillaumet.
Nestled in the heart of Patagonia, El Chalten has since been discovered by trekkers, and was nationally recognized as the “trekking capital” of Argentina. However, one of the greatest things about El chalten is that it remained preserved from mass tourism. Getting to El Chalten is in fact quite an expedition, but the lucky travellers passing through will be pleased with the lack of daily bus-tours or extravagant prices.
In 2017, about 90,000 tourists visited the town, a lot less than the Perito Moreno Glacier near El Calafate. with 440,000 entrances sold the same year. The town of El Chalten has managed to remain simple and small but is mainly filled with hotels, campsites and restaurants to accommodate hikers and climbers.
We chose to come to El Chalten for the laid back atmosphere but also to enjoy beautiful and free of access hikes…
Hiking in El Chalten
There are a few trails within the national Park near El Chalten. Most tourists usually organise day hikes to both Mt Fitzroy and Cerro Torre, the most iconic spots in the ares. Climbers head to Rio Blanco and Piedra del Fraile while hard-core trekkers go for a 5 to 6-day loop crossing glaciers and remote parts of the national park Los Glacieros.
These hikes are however not all accessible during the shoulder and low seasons, we therefore settled on the overnight hike from El Chalten to Mt Fitzroy and Cerro Torre on day 2.
Day 1 : Camping Poincenot and the Mt Fitzroy by day
We rented a tent from a local outdoor store and headed towards the Laguna de Los Tres.The route from town to Camp Poincenot was straightforward. On this first day of April, the trail was mostly empty and we had the beauty to ourselves. A bonus for arriving late in the season was that the colours of the trees were in the midst of changing from green to orange and brown.
Once at the camp, we quickly set up our tent, left our bags behind and started our hike up the viewpoint of Fitzroy (the Laguna de los Tres). Due to starting from town after breakfast, we left a little later in the day when most day hikers were already making their way down as we reached the Laguna.
This was perfect for us as it meant we there were much fewer people at the top when we arrived. Also, by staying the night right at the bottom of the (steep) hill to the laguna is a plus to enjoy the place a little longer as the sun sets.
Stargazing and sunrise at Mt Fitzroy lookout
After a camp dinner and a few long exposure photos of the mountains and the night sky, we called it a night to avoid the cold. No such luck. The tent and sleeping bags we had rented were completely unsuitable for one of the first cold nights of the season at the bottom of a glacier-capped mountain chain.
Eventually, 4 am arrived and we jumped out of our sleeping bags to start the hike back to the viewpoint in hope to warm up and see the iconic pink glow of the mountain range at sunrise.
Unfortunately it wasn’t to be. However, as we were watching the incredible view over the valley and the town of El Chalten, the clouds spread up to let the last rays of the morning sun reach the mountain range. The Mt Fitzroy and the surrounding peaks brighten up in a gorgeous shinny orange colour to our amazement leaving us speechless for a minute.
Hike to Cerro Torre
After hiking back down and filled us up with a quick camp breakfast, we decided to abandon our plans for a second night of camping. One night of no sleep and almost freezing was enough. We couldn’t handle the thought of spending another night at the base of a glacier. We therefore packed up our bags and hiked to Cerro Torres before heading back to town.
We started ou last day of hike along the crystal clear lakes of Madre and Hija. We were once again struck by the beauty of the autumn colours against the mountains ans as we arrived in Tres Lagunas couldn’t believe how breathtaking the landscape was. Cerro Torres had cleared up and in front of it, leftovers of icebergs were flotting in the Laguna Torre creating a very dramatic but enchanting scenery.
Hitch-Hiking to El Chalten
As mentioned above, El Chalten is a small town in the middle of the mountains, 3 hours north of El Calafate on dirt road: the legendary Route 40 which goes all the way to Bariloche through the empty Patagonian pampas.
By this stage we were tired of the expensive Argentinian bus system which accounted for almost 50% of our expenses in the country. We therefore, decided to try our hand at hitchhiking out of El Calafate.
It is important to remember that we were at the end of the season so the amount of travelers had drastically reduced in the region, this was both good and bad. We have heard stories of queues of backpackers on the sides of the roads looking for a lift but in the first days of April, we had the roads pretty much to ourselves. On the other side, out of the touristic season, traffic attempting the journey is a lot less important, so finding a ride tend to be more difficult.
To be put all chances on our side, we walked 1 hour out-of-town towards the main road heading north. As we left town, we were joined by two street dogs which in fariness we were delighted about. We love dogs and that was nice to have some new companions with us.
What we didn’t know is how mad dogs in Patagonia are. Each time a car drove passed us the dogs barked and chased it obstructing the road. After 5 hours by the side of the road and no car stopping for us, we gave up and headed back to town. Here is a video of our mad furry friends.
[kad_vimeo url=”https://vimeo.com/241602307″ ]
Take Two, finally hitch-hiking to El Chalten
Undeterred, we decided we would try again the next morning and if we failed we would get the afternoon bus. After cleverly avoiding every street dog we saw, we were picked up almost immediately after starting. Maybe our sign “we have cookies” worked after all.
Unfortunately, our ride wasn’t going to El Calafate and left us in the middle of nowhere beside the junction to El Chalten. We wondered what we would do if we couldn’t find a ride, maybe spend a night sleeping in the pampas with the Guanacos? After 9 cars and an hour wait we were picked up by a young Argentinian photographer and his family on holiday. Lucky us.
Finding an accommodation from April
It was the last day of March when we arrived in El Chalten and began looking for someplace to stay. We had planned to spend two nights in the town and then two nights camping in the park. Something we heard over and over was that in April it becomes difficult to find places to stay.
In this part of the continent, most towns shut down for winter. What we didn’t know was that this literally meant April 1st! The first hostel we arrived in said we could of course stay, but, after giving us the tour they informed us they where only open for one more night and were closing the next day. If you plan on visiting El Chalten and widely Patagonia, make sure to keep in mind transports are less frequent and accommodations start to shut down for winter, in April.
We decided to stay at another hostel which was opened for a few more days. The Glaciar Marconi hostel was a good choice as it was warm inside, had a kitchen with large tables to meet fellow travellers and a lovely garden with view over the Mt Fitzroy.
If you are heading to El Chalten, we can only recommend to check the hostel/hotel availability here.
Where to go from El Chalten
Many backpackers choose to do a 2-day hike and take a ferry from El Chalten to Villa O’Higgins to begin the Carretera Austral, however we didn’t have the equipment to camp and heard conflicting reports that the ferry had finished its service for winter.
From El Chalten we therefore continued North to Los Antiguos where we crossed the border into Chile to go to the Marble Caves in Puerto Rio Tranquillo, one of the most beautiful place we have seen in Patagonia.
Cost and Useful information
Currency (average as of April 2017) : €1 = ARS 16.38
Hitchhiking : El Calafate to El Chalten : Free
Hostel El Chalten : Glaciar Marconi : ARS 200 (€12) pp / pn
Tent Rental : ARS 210 (€12.50) pp / pn
Bus : El Chalten to Los Antigos : ARS 1140 (€70) pp
Great trip report with really beautiful places.
The Mount Fitz Roy looks stunning in your photos!
Congrats and well done.
Amazing pictures!!