Fitz Roy
Getting used to being dry again
After an excellent run with the weather, we finally got our share of rain and wind at Fitz Roy.
Arriving in El Chalten about 10 pm we awoke the next morning to the first fine day the town had seen in a week. Oblivious to this we headed off to the foot of Fitz Roy in sun shine and were soon tramping in shorts and tee shirts. The torre is a massive granite tower that, while too steep for the snow to settle on it, is surrounded by glaciers and is more impressive than the Torres del Paine towers. An early evening climb up the slope at the base of the tower and we were able to watch climbers on the glacier, while the azure blue terminal lake sparkled in the sun.
After a huge dinner we settled down in our tents in the n
ow very familiar beech forest. During the night the rain came in and Mary was forced to abandon her bivy bag and squeeze into one of the tents. During the morning a brief gap in the rain provided an opportunity to eat and pack before a 3 hour walk to the next camp site, by a moraine lake at the base of Solo. Here the glaciers tumble down to about 700m, but we only got glimpses through the rain and clouds of their source. The camp was full of increasingly frustrated climbers waiting for a break in the weather that never came. Instead the rain got heavier.
The next morning we packed up in the rain and he
aded back for El Chalten. As we moved away from the mountains the weather seemed to improve and we got fresh glimpses of Solo. The rain soon returned and we checked into a hostel for our first reading day in 5 weeks of travel. We found time to cook our own dinner, comprising large quantities of prime steak and red wine.
It is raining again today and the surrounding foothills are dusted in snow. There is talk of horse riding or ATV hire, but I suspect this will become our first true rest day. There are signs that shopping instincts are emerging and there are mutterings from the ladies (no longer girls as we are out of the bush) about manicures.
Tomorrow we start our journey home with a bus ride to El Calafate and plane to Ushuaia.
Posted by Ross
After an excellent run with the weather, we finally got our share of rain and wind at Fitz Roy.
Arriving in El Chalten about 10 pm we awoke the next morning to the first fine day the town had seen in a week. Oblivious to this we headed off to the foot of Fitz Roy in sun shine and were soon tramping in shorts and tee shirts. The torre is a massive granite tower that, while too steep for the snow to settle on it, is surrounded by glaciers and is more impressive than the Torres del Paine towers. An early evening climb up the slope at the base of the tower and we were able to watch climbers on the glacier, while the azure blue terminal lake sparkled in the sun.
After a huge dinner we settled down in our tents in the n
ow very familiar beech forest. During the night the rain came in and Mary was forced to abandon her bivy bag and squeeze into one of the tents. During the morning a brief gap in the rain provided an opportunity to eat and pack before a 3 hour walk to the next camp site, by a moraine lake at the base of Solo. Here the glaciers tumble down to about 700m, but we only got glimpses through the rain and clouds of their source. The camp was full of increasingly frustrated climbers waiting for a break in the weather that never came. Instead the rain got heavier.The next morning we packed up in the rain and he
aded back for El Chalten. As we moved away from the mountains the weather seemed to improve and we got fresh glimpses of Solo. The rain soon returned and we checked into a hostel for our first reading day in 5 weeks of travel. We found time to cook our own dinner, comprising large quantities of prime steak and red wine.It is raining again today and the surrounding foothills are dusted in snow. There is talk of horse riding or ATV hire, but I suspect this will become our first true rest day. There are signs that shopping instincts are emerging and there are mutterings from the ladies (no longer girls as we are out of the bush) about manicures.
Tomorrow we start our journey home with a bus ride to El Calafate and plane to Ushuaia.
Posted by Ross
posted by Ross @ 2:47 AM
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