El Chaltén
By Jaimy de Vries
Looking back at a wonderful stay in El Chalten. El Chaltén is located in the Southern Andes, within the Los Glaciares National Park, in a valley where the rivers De las Vueltas and Fitz Roy meet. Cerro Chaltén or Fitz Roy is the predominant figure of the landscape. El Chaltén is the trekking Walhalla in the Patagonia of Argentina. From here you can take lots of adventurous hiking trails or multi-day treks through Los Glaciares National Park. I stayed here for just 1,5 week but it feels like much longer because I learned and experienced so much.
How to arrive in El Chaltén?
To come to El Chaltén you have two ways: by airport in El Calafate and then a omnibus to El Chaltén, or only by omnibus from the north or the south of Argentina. There are several bus companies that travels to El Chaltén and other places in Argentina. You can book a bus ticket at the website plataforma10. These buses are really comfortable. It’s not problem to sit on a 24 hour bus from point A to B. But no worry, from El Calafate to El Chaltén it’s only 3 hours.
El Chaltén
El Chaltén is a small town in the Southern Andes. In the 90’s there were only 50 people living there, now it counts 3000 residents. But most people you see walking are tourist that come and go. If you walk on the main street you see lots of hostels, bars and restaurants. It feels like you’re in a backpackers Walhalla. And that’s not for nothing! It’s an amazing place from where you can just walk out of the town and you’d be surrounded by hiking and trekking trails. El Chaltén is declared as the National Capital of trekking in 2015.
El Chaltén gets his name from the mythical mountain that stands out from the rest of the peaks. The ancient Tehuelches named this mountain Chaltén, what means “Smoky Mountain”, because that is the impression it gives when the clouds are columned by the wind at its top. The
With the statue of El Chaltén.
town is in an ecoregion called ecotone, the transition between the steppe and the forest. The plain abruptly leads to huge rock formations with forested valleys crossed by rivers and streams. In this almost uninhabited latitude of the planet, wildlife finds in its valleys and mountains. The best example of the fragility of this environment protected by the National Park is represented by the Huemul, an endemic deer in danger of extinction.
Let the adventure start!
I arrived late at night. I needed to hurry to make it for the check-in time at the Mistico Hostel. After a quick check in I tried to find my way around this big hostel. I had a 6 bed mixed dormitory room with 5 men and I slept on top of a bunk bed. Most of the people in the hostel weren’t chatty and they looked more to themselves. It was difficult to have a spontaneous chat. I took a shower and went to the toilet and there was no toilet paper either. I went quickly to the kiosk to get drinkable water and toilet paper. Pff what a culture shock was this for me. Two weeks ago I was on a cruise, next week I had a private room in an Airbnb and now a 6-bed dormitory room in a hostel between guys and no toilet paper! At that time I felt very lonely and missed my home.
After a good night’s sleep I felt a bit better. The next morning everyone was happy too and it was much easier to talk to fellow travelers. After that I took a small hike to Mirador Cerro Torro with my hiking buddy Maarten from the Netherlands. I love hiking, it helps to put your mind at ease. After the hike and more talking with other travelers we got some ideas and wanted to explore whether we can do multi-day hike (trekking).
And it turned out to be quite easy, there are several rental outdoor shops in town and they’re not expensive. For just 4000-5000 peso a night you have a complete camping set (including tent, sleeping mat and bag and cooking equipment) and you can pick it up the night before for free. That’s quite nice right!?
Between rocks on one of the hikes
First trek
We decided to arrange the camping equipment right away because the next day the weather was going to be great. The skies are clear and that’s is the best weather condition to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the mountains. Otherwise the top of the mountains are covered in clouds. And the top sightseeing in this area is the mount Fitz Roy by sunrise. The walk towards Fitz Roy is 3-4 hours and if you want to see it with sunrise you need to walk in the dark. That’s not easy because it’s an intermediate hike due to the steep elevation at the end. But! We got the tip of a fellow traveler to go camping on a free camping site just before mount Fitz Roy and before the steep elevation. We thought this was a great idea so we prepared ourselves for our first trek.
We packed our stuff and compared it with other travelers. There were other travelers taking a 4-day trek with smaller bags. It looked kind of funny and stupid that I had such a big bag, but hey! You need to learn what to bring and what NOT to bring and I learn by doing. The next morning we, a small group, left with our heavy bags. We took a bus to the Hosteria point and from there we had a 2 hour hike to the camping site Poincenot. You experience quite fast that walking with a bag is next level hiking. It’s almost twice as hard!. But I made it without any problems, you simply adjust your pace to your endurance. It was a beautiful hike in the forest along a river with a mirador over Piedras Blancas.
Ready for my first trek!
View over the Patagonia range
One of the many glaciers in this area
It was easy to find the camping site. And we weren’t the only one with the same idea, there were lots of others camping here too. But there was enough space. I found a nice spot. The tent was set up very quick, so I took another small hike around this area. After that I stayed at the camping site. It was so great! Just being one with nature and enjoying small things like making your own pasta meal on a stove and peeing in nature with a view over the mountains. Camping is also a great way to meet other travelers. We sat together enjoying our meal. I met Argentina, German, Swiss and French people. At 9 O’clock it got dark, time to get in the tent with thermal underwear because it gets cold quite fast. I didn’t slept very well that night because it was cold and the sleeping matt was really thin. The floor was so hard that it hurt to lie on one side for a long time. I had to turn every 5 minutes. When I woke up I felt as hard and cold like a rock.
But I was so excited for the hike to mount Fitz Roy that I didn’t felt tired. I put my night lamp on and hiked the last part to Lago de los Tres to see the amazing view over mount Fitz Roy with sunrise. It was a hard and steep ascent of 3 km that takes you at least an hour. It was exciting walking in the dark. It felt like a real adventure and I’m the explorer. When I arrived it was still dark, but I got to see the stars and soon you could see the shape of the mount Fitz Roy. I put a time-lapse on with my Go Pro and enjoyed breakfast. After half an hour there was daylight but it took another hour before the sun touched and enlightened mount Fitz Roy. Underneath you can see some pictures of the scenery.
A steep climb in the dark up to mount Fitz Roy
A clear sky! The sun is starting to rise
The sun is hitting the Mount Fitz Roy with its light – an amazing sight!
What a view
The Huemel Circuit
one of my visit in El Chaltén I heard about a 4-day hike called the Huemel circuit. My interest was piqued. The Huemel circuit is a 60 kilometer (40 mile) trek that starts from El Chaltén and ends on the banks of Lago Viedma. Its one of the hidden gems of the Argentinean Patagonia. The trek brings you through meadows and forests, across rivers and up windy passes and rocky moraines. The highlight of the Huemul Circuit is the unparalleled view of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the third-largest glacier in the world. It is a challenging hike, both physically and mentally. It is a hike for more experienced hikers, but an unexperienced hiker like me did it! If you want to read more click on the link below.
List of all the best hiking trails in El Chaltén
Underneath you can read my list of the best hikes that starts from El Chaltén. From easy to difficult.
Mirador de los Condores
An easy one hour hike that starts from the National Park Visitors Center. It has an excellent view towards the north, of the town and all the mountains. A nice lookout for sunrise or sunset. And you can see condors flying.
Laguna Capri
More than 1,5 hours hike towards the Laguna Capri. From here you have an excellent view (mirador) of the Fitz Roy Range. The first 25 minutes of the trails have steps. Trekking poles are recommended.
Sendero Cerro Torro
To make the full hike to Mirador Maestri to see the Glacier of Cerro Torro it takes you four hours from where the last part is difficult. But during this hike you have other destinations along the way too or you can decide to make a shorter walk to one of these stops. The first stop is mirador del Torro aftermore than an hour walk where you have a great viewpoint of the Cerro Torro range. The next stop is after a 3 hour walk from the start: the Laguna Torro where you have an excellent view over the Torro range, Grande Glacier and its lagoon. Just before the Laguna Torre you have a free camping site if you want to do this in two days.
Sendero Fitz Roy
On day one of my visit in El Chaltén I heard about a 4-day hike called the Huemel circuit. My interest was piqued. The Huemel circuit is a 60 kilometer (40 mile) trek that starts from El Chaltén and ends on the banks of Lago Viedma. Its one of the hidden gems of the Argentinean Patagonia. The trek brings you through meadows and forests, across rivers and up windy passes and rocky moraines. The highlight of the Huemul Circuit is the unparalleled view of the On day To make the full hike to the Laguna de los tres, the most visited trail in the national park, you need to walk 4,5 hour to get an amazing view over the mount Fitz Roy Range. But you can split up this hike by camping at Poincenot. This is ideal if you want to see the sunrise at mount Fitz Roy. This is surely something I can recommend, because the last section (just after the camping site) is very steep. It’s not recommend to go on very wet and windy days. Sturdy footwear and trekking poles are recommend.
Huemel Circuit
The Huemel circruit is a 60 kilometer (40 mile) trek that starts from El Chaltén and ends on the banks of Lago Viedma. Its one of the hidden gems of the Argentinean Patagonia. The trek brings you through meadows and forests, across rivers and up windy passes and along rocky moraines. The highlight of the Huemul Circuit is the unparalleled view of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the second-largest non-polar ice mass in the world. It is a challenging and difficult hike. Sturdy footwear, trekking poles, camping equipment, a harness, carabiners and a safety rope are necessary.
How to prepare for a multi-day hike?
In El Chaltén I took my first two multi-day hiking trips. A two-day and a four-day hike. Before and during my multi-day hike, I asked many fellow travelers how they prepare themselves for this, what they bring with them, what their stupidest mistake was and what their most valuable item is. I combined all this information with my own experience to a blog post about how to prepare yourself for a multi-day hike. That includes tips, tricks and a checklist.
Click on the link below to read more about preparing a multi-day hike.
