And on to Fitzroy massif

Ben and maté
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We continue our active part of the trip, with trekking around the Fitzroy massif...

Caught a bus from El Calafate to El Chalten in the morning. Arrived with plenty of time to go for a walk to the waterfalls in the afternoon. A nice walk with pretty good views of the mountains. Made dinner in the hostel as we knew we had a long days ahead of us tomorrow.

A thoroughly enjoyable day with spectaculor views of Mount Torres

Torre 4
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The next day we had booked ourselves onto and ice trekking tour. Early start (6.45 - ouch!). We were in a group of 8 people (mainly Argentineans). It was about a 4 hour trek to the Glacier. Not too difficult and lots of good views of Cerro Torres on the way. We crossed the Fitz Roy river by rope along the way which was good fun. A steep ascent and then down to the Glacier where we all put on our crampons. Took a little while to get the hang of walking on the ice properly but it was an amazing experience to be surrounded soley by ice. Our ice trekking took us to an ice wall which where we stopped to have our packed lunches before attempting the climb. It didn't look too difficult, what with having big ice pick things to help you get up...well that was until my shoe fell off which made me lose my grip on the ice and I somehow found myself hanging upside down - oh dear! All ended ok though...quite amusing really. Then trekked back to base. A thoroughly enjoyable day with spectacular views of Cerro Torres.

River crossing
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Next day we decided to do the long Fitz Roy walk ourselves. A fairly late start this time as we overindulged on the wine the night before (which was served in penguin jugs...) - oh and Ben had another steak too. The map said the walk was pretty tough as it was so steep so we were prepared for a hard days trekking. Lovely view points of Fitz Roy on the way where we stopped for a couple of breaks. We had just commented that the map was talking rubbish by saying the route was really steep when we bumped into a couple we had met previously who pointed out the path up the mountain that we had yet to climb. Oh my god! The sun was baking and there was absolutely no breeze either. The ascent was the hardest walking we have done. It took a good 45 minutes of climbing to get too the top but it was so worth the effort - breathtaking views. We walked to the lake at the foot of Fitz Roy and relaxed for an hour or so (well actually we might have nodded off!) Then headed back to camp. Out for pizza/pasta in the evening, early to bed as pretty tired. Fantastic day.

Torre 3
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Ben also got up to take photos of Fitzroy one morning. He was pretty impressed, although unfortunately due to cloud on the horizon he didn´t see the "lighting of a cigar" effect.