Nice views

Relaxing – Monday 04.12.2023

After finishing the Huemul Circuit yesterday, resting was largely on the agenda today. I took a day off and used the time to do my laundry and write on my blog. Otherwise not much happened today.

Loma del Pilegue Tumbado – Thuesday 05.12.2023

After I used the day yesterday to rest a little, do my laundry and write on my blog, I had another short hike scheduled for today. While having breakfast I tried to upload the last pictures to my blog, which was a real tragedy with the connection constantly breaking down. After I finished eating and uploaded the last pictures, I finally set off for today’s tour. The plan was to go to a small mountain, which the locals like to walk to because it’s not particularly far, but you should have a nice view of the surrounding area.
The weather was very good today and with the cloud-free sky you quickly warmed up. That’s why I set out again today with shorts.

At around 11 a.m. I left the town again and at the start of the tour hiked up the same route that I had already covered a few days ago for the Huemul Circuit.

After a few kilometers I turned right at a sign and was on new paths. The path took me through the shady forest for a long time, which was very pleasant given the current temperatures. I continued to walk uphill on good paths through the beautiful forest. Here I kept meeting other hikers who, like me, seemed to want to take advantage of the good weather to get a nice view from the top of the mountain.

Soon I reached the end of the forest and came across a large meadow. There were already a lot of people sitting around here and enjoying the view of the mountains. I quickly ate a cheese sandwich and put on a sweater because I was afraid of stronger winds on the way. As it turns out, my fears were correct. Without the trees to protect me, I was once again directly exposed to the cold wind, so I was glad to be wearing slightly thicker clothing.

Shortly before the summit, I went uphill again steeper before I had to fight my way further up through the snow for a short passage. Since it was very warm today and the path was already worn out by other hikers, the few meters in the snow turned out to be a slippery affair. Luckily I had my hiking poles with me, which helped me a lot for the last stretch to the summit.

The summit itself was free of snow and, surprisingly, there was no wind at all. This made it a very pleasant place that some people also used for a nap. However, I ate a little something and chatted with a few younger people who also enjoyed the good weather and the beautiful view at the summit. Since it was fairly cloudless, there was a wonderful view of the surrounding area from here and I could understand why this spot is suggested by many locals.

After a break of almost an hour, I started the descent again. From the summit I had to go down again through the slippery snow.

Afterwards we went very relaxed down to the valley. Since the path was very easy to walk and didn’t really require much effort, I reached El Chaltén again after just under 2 hours.

With the warm weather, I bought some delicious ice cream from the local ice cream parlor and drank an affogato with it.

While I was eating my delicious ice cream, I chatted with a couple from Germany who I had already met on the Huemul Circuit and met here by chance. As it turned out, the man was from Karlsruhe and the two were in the final stages of their 14-month trip around the world. This evening they wanted to take the bus to Bariloche before they end their 14-month trip around the world in two weeks. Apparently they had traveled around quite a bit and traveled to different countries around the world. These include, for example, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Chile, Argentina and some countries in Central America. But since they had to move on, they soon said goodbye to me and I drank my iced coffee alone afterwards, wondering where I might end up.

Afterwards I went back to the campsite and rested before going back to bed.

Loma de las Pizzaras – Wednesday 06.12.2023

After the relaxed tour yesterday, I had chosen a more demanding tour for today. The young man at the campsite reception hadn’t done the tour himself, but apparently knew a few people who thought it was great. Since there was almost 1,500 meters of altitude to climb up and down, I got up at 7 a.m. today and had a quick breakfast so that I could start walking before 8 a.m.

I left the town with light luggage towards Laguna Torres. The first 7.5 kilometers were relaxed through the landscape. I had already started the paths on previous tours, so I rarely stopped for a picture.

The most interesting thing in the first few kilometers was the conversation with a man who was about to overtake me. As he told me, he was involved in a race that was taking place in the area. They first had to reach various destinations on foot, then cycle from El Chaltén to El Calafate, which is almost 200 kilometers, and then cycle through the river in a canoe for a while. So you were essentially taking part in an alternative triathlon lasting several days. After a few minutes he had to move on again so as not to lose touch with the others. While he continued walking towards Cerro Terro, a short while later I turned right in the forest. From here we went through the bushes onto an unsigned path. It went briefly through rough terrain before I came across a small trail again after a few meters. From then on I followed this up the mountain.

Zuerst ging es steil durch den Wald weiter nach oben. Der Weg machte nicht sehr viele Schleifen, sondern ging fast auf direktem Weg nach oben. Überraschenderweise fand ich mich irgendwann in einem Sandfeld wieder, welches hier mitten im Wald am Hang doch interessant aussah.

Then I continued up through the small trees and in between I was able to catch glimpses of the surrounding landscape. As expected, there wasn’t much going on on the way and I didn’t meet anyone at all. So I walked alone up the steep path, which really only led up for hours without ever going downhill or straight ahead.

After a while the last trees disappeared and we continued upwards in stony terrain. At first it was simply round and sometimes large stones, later it was increasingly about slate rock, which was a bit more demanding due to its structure. In some places I had to climb up the rock a bit and since the shale broke quickly, I had to be very careful about where I put my feet and where I could hold on. There was no longer any real path here, but rather I followed my instinct as to how best to get to the top. Every now and then I could see a small stone tower, which at least showed me that I was still in the right place. Nevertheless, I took out my cell phone again in between and checked my location with the planned route, which always worked well thanks to GPS.

After I had walked along a small ridge, the first snow fields came towards me and I could soon see the summit of the mountain in the distance. In the snow I then recognized traces of other people leading up. So more people must have headed towards the summit, even if it only looked like a small group.

I quickly left the first small snow fields behind me. Further up the mountain was almost completely covered in snow and so I had to get further up through the snow again.

Especially when I was walking along a ridge, I had to be careful not to slide down the snow to the left or right.

After the last few meters through the white landscape, I reached a small snow-free area. Here I met a group of hikers on the mountain for the first time. The group had come from Spain and wanted to see whether or not they could continue to the actual summit of the mountain, which was already in sight from here. But since you had to climb to do this and it was too dangerous for me to do it alone with all the snow, I decided to climb back down into the valley after a short break. After all, I still had almost 1,500 meters of descent ahead of me and it would probably take another hour to get to the summit and back again.

After I had enjoyed the fantastic panorama and had a little refreshment, I made my way back alone.

It went again over the snow-covered ridge and then further down over rocks. Due to the steep descent in the snow, my progress was slow at the beginning.

When I was climbing down a piece of rock in front of a snowfield, my knee got caught on a piece and the sharp slate stone literally cut my knee. In itself it wasn’t that wild and didn’t really hurt either. Unfortunately it started to bleed a lot and because of the snow that was on my legs and was just starting to melt, it looked wilder than it actually was. Soon my entire leg was red with blood and I had to do something. I quickly unpacked some tempo and tape and used it to make a pressure bandage, which I applied to the wound for the first few minutes. With my makeshift bandage on, I continued walking downhill and marveled at the beautiful landscape in front of me. (Of course I also brought a first aid kit with me, but it really wasn’t that bad ;))

Soon I left the rocks behind me again and continued down through the forest. Here I quickly covered a lot of altitude, which I then noticed in my legs down below.

When I got back to the normal route, I was already a little exhausted from the hike, so I took it a little slower for the remaining 7.5 kilometers.

When I finally arrived back at the campsite and was able to take a long shower after my almost 8-hour hike, during which I had walked almost 24 km and climbed up and down over 1500 meters in altitude, I was very happy about it. So I was a little exhausted from the strenuous hike in the warm temperatures and when I was finally able to eat something for dinner in a restaurant, I quickly felt tired. So after eating I went straight to bed.

Leaving El Chaltén – Thursday 07.12.2023

I had planned my trip back to El Calafate for today, so there wasn’t much on the agenda. I stayed in bed a little longer and then had a relaxed breakfast. Later I took down my tent and chatted with two of my tent neighbors who were cycling through South America and had already covered over 5000 km.

After the conversation, which was very interesting for me, I packed everything up and ran to the bus station at the entrance to the town. There I bought a ticket to El Calafate. Since I still had some time, I had an espresso in a café.

The bus arrived around 12:30 and we set off a little later. So I left El Chalten again, which I actually really liked and also had some wonderful trekking tours to offer.

During the 3-hour bus ride, I took a short nap and spent the rest of the time looking out the window and listening to music. While the impressive landscape passed me by, I reflected on the days here and was already thinking about the upcoming tours that await me in the next few days and weeks.

When I arrived in El Calafate, I went to a cheap hotel for the first night. I had a delicious lamb dinner in the attached restaurant and then went back to my room. For the first time in weeks I watched a film before going to sleep in a bed for the night and, for once, not spending the night in my tent.