Roughing it at Cerro Fitz Roy

Camping means different things to different people.  For some, it means driving the luxury trailer complete with all the conveniences from home to a nice camp ground where setting up is a simple matter of hooking up your electricity and sewer.  For others, you load your car with all your camping gear which may include a few conveniences and comforts from home, drive to your camp ground where you then pitch your tent, unload your gear and crack open an ice cold bottle of beer as you sit back in your comfy lawn chairs.  Our usual camping style is the latter although once we loaded all our gear into a canoe in Algonquin Park and paddled our way to our camp site.  We thought we were really roughing it that time, especially when Chris inadvertently (that’s his story to this day) tipped the canoe while I was in it waiting for him to get in….but that’s a story for another day.

We have just returned from our latest camping/trekking trip in Patagonia, which again was 5 days/4 nights in duration. Our starting point was El Chaltén, a small village located at the base of Cerro Torre and Cerro Fitz Roy, both popular for climbing as well as trekking and camping. El Chaltén is the youngest town in Argentina, built in 1985 to help secure the disputed border with Chile. Today the sole reason for its existence is tourism. It is 220 km north of El Calafate.

We arrived in El Chaltén around noon last Friday and immediately headed out into the mountains to our first camp site, only a couple of hours away at the base of Cerro Fitz Roy where we set up camp and stayed for 2 nights.  We spent the next 2 nights in a camp ground at the base of Cerro Torre.  Spending a couple of nights at each site allowed us the opportunity to do day hikes without our packs, making the trekking much more enjoyable.
The trails in this area were much easier than those at Torres del Paine (perhaps with the exception of the trail to the lookout at Fitz Roy which was pretty tough going) and are very popular as they can be done as day hikes directly from El Chaltén.  So during the day, the trails got a little busy, but early morning and evening we had them virtually to ourselves.  Even so, the number of tourists was far less than those encountered in Torres del Paine.  The camp grounds were pretty sparsely populated with about a dozen or so tents set up each night.

The weather throughout the five days was absolutely perfect for trekking.  With the exception of one day when it was cloudy, we enjoyed clear, sunny skies, comfortable daytime temperatures around 15C along with no wind and no rain. The nights got a little cool, around 5C, except for the last night when there was frost on the ground. And the early mornings were downright chilly, giving us good reason to sleep in each morning.

Typical weather enjoyed each day.

Cerro Torre obscured by clouds on our only cloudy day.

The weather cleared the next day, giving us great 
visibility to Cerro Torre.

While conditions were absolutely perfect for this trek, we took roughing it to a new level, at least for us. Our camping gear was similar to our previous trek in Torres del Paine which included:

• 1 three-man tent that provided barely enough space for each of us and our packs (I have no idea how three people, especially men, would actually fit into the tent);
• 2 foam sleeping mats that provided some insulation from the cold ground but absolutely no comfort value;
• 1 inflatable sleeping mat that we shared – well, actually, Chris used it for the first three nights since he was still complaining about his sore ribs (wasn’t that nice of me) but then damn his ribs, my bruised hips couldn’t take another night on the hard ground so I got the mat on the last night;
• kitchen gear consisting of one pot, one metal spoon that we borrowed from our hostel (and returned I might add), 2 metal cups, 2 bowls and 2 “sporks” (combination spoon, fork and knife); and,
• 1 ultra light burner with 2 cannisters of fuel.

All our gear and food for 5 days of camping
fit into our packs with lots of room to spare.

The first campsite – not too crowded here!

Eating in the “dining room”.

Each night we put all our food in a sack and
hung it from a tree.  The absence of wildlife in the
park was noteworthy, although we had been warned
that mice ran rampant and were a camper’s worse nightmare
as they would chew through anything if they detected food. 

The chef at work:  food was basic, after all we only had one pot and spoon.

Enjoying a hot drink to keep warm.
Dead logs on rocks made a great table.

Climbing over boulders to get a better view of a glacier.

The trails took us through forests such as this one as well
as through marshes and meadows (below)
and up and down rocky hills and mountains. 

Of the many birds we saw, this tiny Austral Pygmy Owl
(at least that’s what I think it is) was the most unusual.

View of Cerro Fitz Roy from the lookout.  Well worth
the difficult one hour climb to the top. 

View of Cerro Torre as we were leaving on the last day, just before
the camera’s battery died.  How’s that for timing!