Enjoy this outdoor travel adventure: a different way of visiting Southern Patagonia at the end of South America in Argentina. Hiking Los Glaciares National Park,
going
to El Chalten to hike around Mount Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre bases and to
El Calafate to visit the king of Patagonia glaciers: the Perito Moreno Glacier.
Unforgettable trekking to see Mount Fitz Roy immense granite rock and the
Perito Moreno Glacier deep blue ice. Also includes a trek to Cerro Torre
and Piedras Blancas Glacier and the option of hiking over the glacier with
crampons. If these holidays you are looking for adventure tours in a wild
area and off the beaten path, you will enjoy your vacation trekking at El
Chalten area, among Patagonia beautiful Andes mountains and with less tourist
development than Torres del Paine in Chile. If you want to come to travel
& trekking Patagonia in a special way and you have only 1 week, this
is the adventure tour of your choice.Departures 2022/2023 & Prices:
8 days - 7 nights
Season: October to April
Starts at: El Calafate Airport (FTE). The Meeting Point for the Group on Day 1 is 7 PM at El Calafate.
Ends at: El Calafate Airport (FTE).
Itinerary
Day 1: El Calafate Airport (FTE) - El Calafate
We receive you at El Calafate Airport from there you are transfered to your lodging at the town of El Calafate, where at 7 PM the group will meet by the first time. This is the moment when we have the guides introduction and we talk about all the details regarding the trekking we will make. You meet your guide and you enjoy the welcome dinner with you adventure partners while chatting on the program details for tomorrow
Lodging at Hostel shared room & bathroom
Lodge option: Inn Double or Single Room with private bathroom
Included meals : dinner (D)
Day 2: Bus to El Chalten - Laguna Capri - Poincenot
After breakfast we travel by bus to El Chalten, a little and colorful town next to Mount Fitz Roy. To arrive to El Chalten we will cross 220 km (190 km of gravel road) through the Patagonia steppe, stopping at half way, where a picturesque inn is located, to enjoy his homemade cakes and hot coffee. Once in Chalten we meet fellow travellers coming from up north (Route 40). We prepare for the trekking, leaving part of our belongings secure at Chalten, carrying only the necessary for these three days trip, where we will lodge at the campsites inside Los Glaciares National Park. We hike up a beautiful trail next to ¨Las Vueltas river that will take us to the first panoramic views of the Mount Fitz Roy. From now on, we will be approaching to De los Patos Lagoon and then next to the Capri Lagoon. In approx. one more hour finally we will arrive to our camp at Poincenot. (3-4 hs approx.) The Camp has been previously mounted, featuring spacious 3 people dome tents, used in double or single base. Each tent has sleeping bags, inner sheet and insulating mattresses. The camp has a large dining tent with table, benches, dishes and kitchenware. The sanitary services are provided with chemical bathrooms or latrine -type. We leave our belongings in our tent and we enjoy an afternoon walk to the sightseeing points around.
Lodging at Poincenot Full Camp double or single tent (rural area - without showers).
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)
Day 3: Mount Fitz Roy, De Los Tres Lagoon
Trekking. We can try to match up the morning sunlight getting pink in Fitz Roy granite walls. You only need this to feel the trip is worthwhile. After breakfast, carrying only day personal items such as our polar & wind jacket, gloves, our camera, water bottle and the box lunch we provide, we overcome the "Chorrillo del Salto", always with the impressive needles of the glacier in front of us. The first 2 hours are mainly flat, through forest and open areas along Fitz Roy trail up to Rio Blanco, with diverse bird life, until reaching Fitz Roy base, climbers basecamp on the east side of the mountain. From here it is a 400 m/1300 ft climb to the De los Tres lagoon on a steep trail that takes us around one hour and a half at gentle pace. This walk is one of the highlights in Los Glaciares National Park: Laguna de los Tres, with its zephyr blue colour, lays at the foot of the Fitz Roy massif, offering the views of Mts. Poincenot, Fitz Roy and the other peaks surrounding them are splendid, their needles rise up vertically in front of us approx. 1500 m over the glaciers. Mt. Fitz Roy, with its 3405 mts above sea level, is considered the “King of Patagonia” and also considered one of the three most beautiful mountains on Earth (together with Alpamayo in Perú and K2 in the Karakoram). We return to Poincenot in late afternoon. (Total 5 - 6 Hs. approx.)
Lodging at Poincenot Full Camp double or single tent (rural area - without showers).
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)
Day 4: Mount Torre - El Chalten
Trekking.Today we start one hour walking to the Lagoons Madre and Hija Valley and down to Fitz Roy river valley, where we meet Cerro Torre trail. The trail runs along beech forest, bogs and shrubland. From the camp, a short hike takes us to Laguna Torre, enclosed by morraines and with the Glacier Grande calving in its west side. It is usual to see icebergs pushed by the wind in the coast of the lagoon. The thin and elegant 3128 mts of Cerro Torre group and the Adela range in the background complete this spectacular view. In the evening we hike back to El Chalten along Cerro Torre trail. Walking time 3 Hs. to Cerro Torre plus 3 to 4 Hs. back to Chalten
Lodging at Hostel shared room & bathroom
Lodge option: Inn Double or Single Room with private bathroom
Included meals: breakfast (B) and box lunch (BL)
Day 5: El Chalten - Loma del Pliegue Tumbado
This mountain, 1500 mts tall, is located immediately south of Cerro Torre valley and offers some of the best views over the different group of mountains, glaciers and lakes that features the area. From the lower terraces to the summit, you can get spectacular views of Fitz Roy, Torre and the spectacular glacier valley in between both. From the summit the bonus is the sight of Paso del Viento and some of the mountains that stick out from the Patagonian Icefield. According to the group capacity, we choose the lower terraces or try the summit, a long but gentle climb in scree. The lower part of the mountain is covered by shrubland and forest. We are back in Chalten by late afternoon.
Lodging at Hostel shared room & bathroom
Lodge option: Inn Double or Single Room with private bathroom
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)
Day 6: El Chalten - El Calafate
Free day. We recommend the Optional excursions offered in the town, such as Viedma Ice trek. Trekking on glacier, using crampons. This activity is physical demanding, but allow us to enjoy a trek on ice and a boat trip in Viedma Lake. Also, you can discover the town or other optional excursions with less physical effort. You can choose to explore the picturesque village of El Chalten, with the possibility of visiting The Climbers Chapel; or the estancia Madsen, home of one of the pioneering families in the area; or the Interpretive Center of National Parks. Or you can take optional excursions taking a bus to visit the area of Del Desierto Lake for a short hiking, that in spite of its name it's a beautiful beech forest surrounded lake, with hanging glaciers in its west side and it's located 45 Km out of town. Other options could be kayaking on Las Vueltas river or sailing on Viedma Lake. Around 5 PM we take the bus to El Calafate, the gateway to the huge glaciers inside the National Park, arriving there around 9 PM. Driving distance: 220 km.
Lodging at Hostel shared room & bathroom
Lodge option: Inn Double or Single Room with private bathroom
Included meals: breakfast (B)
Day 7: Perito Moreno Glacier
We dedicate this day to one of the World’s Natural Wonders: the Perito Moreno glacier. After breakfast we travel by bus, on a road that allows us to go through the folds left on the steppe by the glaciers, to the Magallanes peninsula where the southern entrance of Los Glaciares National Park is located. Its major attraction is the Perito Moreno Glacier which, because of unusually favorable local conditions, is one of the world’s few advancing glaciers.
This ice field-type glacier flows down from the Patagonia Icefield, a big
ice surface that with its 22.000 square kilometres is the third largest
glacier area in the world, after Antarctica (14 M sq km) and Greenland (1
M sq km). The Perito Moreno Glacier is the only one in the world that shows
a closure and rupture process. Huge icebergs from the glacier wall collapse
into the De los Tempanos Channel. The roar of the gigantic ice rocks falling
and crashing into the waters of the channel is a unique experience. Our
bus will lead us just in front of the Glacier, allowing us to walk and view
the Glacier from different viewpoints. We return to El Calafate using a
different route. We will drive 80 km (1 and a half hour) to get and then
again to come back from the glacier across the steppe, watching a wide variety
of birds. Lodging at Hostel shared room & bathroom
Lodge option: Inn Double or Single Room with private bathroom
Included meals: breakfast (B)
Day 8: El Calafate - El Calafate Airport
After breakfast, departure to Calafate Airport (FTE). End of the Adventure Trip.
Included meals: breakfast (B)
Services Included: Bilingual tour leader during all the trip, trekking/mountain guide while on trek, cook, buses (combined private & regular), 5 nights hostel or inn and 2 nights full camping (igloo tents double base with sleeping bags, interior sheets and insulating mattresses, dinner tents with table, benches and kitchenware, cooking tent), 7 breakfast (B), 4 box lunch (BL) and 4 dinners (D), all transfers in Patagonia and trekking activities. Perito Moreno Glacier Excursion. More information
Not included: international and domestic flights, airport taxes, transfers in Buenos Aires, nights in Buenos Aires, drinks, foods not detailed, tickets entrance to 1 National Park (5/10 u$d ea.), medical covering, tips, optional excursion Viedma Lake, Lago Argentino Navigation, services not detailed in the program. More information
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Adventure Trip