The weather broke and turned sunny which was great as we were now getting views of Monte Fitz Roy from up the valley. We did the short hike up to the glacier from the campground at Lago del Desierto. Fitz Roy and the rest of the valley was in the clear and the views were fantastic. From there it was 40 k into the town of El Chalten. We did not have much of an idea what to expect like much of the tour as we did not do a lot of research before leaving. The ride into town had incredible scenery but the road turned very rough about halfway in. The unsorted large river rock gravel was some of the worst we have seen since the early part of the trip north of Hornopiren. We had a blasting tailwind so that helped at least although it was hard enough that it made taking pictures difficult. From El Chalten the road is back to pavement although we are worried about the barren landscape to the east and the possibility that wind will be a problem.
It turns out that El Chalten is quite the tourist town with tourists outnumbering the three hundred or so locals about five to one. There are more hostels, hotels and restaurants than houses. There are also lots of high end sports shops and gift shops. The restaurants are thankfully more than just the "typical" Chilean fare with some gourmet options. There is plenty of tourist money in circulation in El Chalten. Most of the tourists appear to arrive in buses and there lots of them walking up and down the main streets. There are American tourists here but the Europeans mostly German outnumber them considerably. Most of the tourists are actually from South America some now from Brazil speaking the lovely sounding Portuguese. I had to do a double take to hear English spoken without some sort of what would be an accent to an American.
Monte Fitz Roy, Cerro Torre and surrounding mountains are close to town and stunning. The landscape in town and to the east remind me of southeast Oregon, being largely treeless mountains with similar looking rock outcrops. The mountains to the west change dramatically with the large granite spires and then the glacier covered surrounding mountains. There is a huge ice field just to the west. The rapid switch from arid mountains to huge glaciers is amazing.
We did a nice hike on a gradual trail that climbed thirty five hundred feet to a lesser hill to the south for some amazing views of Monte Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre. We could see from there down to Torres del Paine. There was also a complementary condor flying around. We were high enough we could look down on it at one point at close range. We were joined by about fifty other day hikers that day in all manner of clothing but most with appropriate footwear. I kept expecting to see some guy jogging up it in perfect form and a heart rate monitor like you would see in Bend but we never saw that.
Wikipedia has this to say about Fitz Roy:
"First climbed in 1952 by French alpinists Lionel Terray and Guido Magnone, it remains among the most technically challenging mountains on Earth for mountaineers. Monte Fitz Roy is the basis for the Patagonia clothing logo following Yvon Chouinard's ascent and subsequent film in 1968
The mountain has a reputation of being "ultimate", despite its average height (although being the highest peak in the Los Glaciares park, it is less than half the size of the Himalayan giants), because the sheer granite faces present long stretches of arduous technical climbing. In addition, the weather in the area is exceptionally inclement and treacherous. It also attracts many photographers thanks to its otherworldly shape. The area, while still fairly inaccessible, was even more isolated until the recent development of El Chaltén village and El Calafate international airport. The mountain climb, however, remains extremely difficult and is the preserve of very experienced climbers. Today, when a hundred people may reach the summit of Mount Everest in a single day,[7] Monte Fitz Roy may only be successfully ascended once a year".
So much for hiring a guide to do a low fifth class accent of Fitz Roy. There are other day hikes in the area but the national park ranger said the one we did had the best views. The other recommended one takes seven hours to get to and puts you at the base of Fitz Roy at a lake. We may press on from here today as the weather is good and there are no winds at the moment.
Just FYI we are averaging about twenty dollars a day for lodging with free camping in the country side factored in. We could easily average less than that if we opted for always staying in the cheapest accommodations in town. For instance we elected for a hotel stay in El Chalten at about sixty US dollars but there was private camping available with a common kitchen for about eight dollars apiece. We wanted to have Internet in the hotel and not have to worry about security on a hike. Some campgrounds offer lockers in places where hiking is common. Also often you can get the proprietors of private camp grounds to watch your stuff in a special spot they keep an eye on.
Here is a link to some more photos. The connection at the hotel in El Chalten was slow so sorry no pictures of Fitz Roy etc but you have probably seen pictures of that becuase it is famous.
