From Puerto Natales we took a bus across the border to El Calafate, Argentina the gateway to the Parque Nacional Los Glaciers. When we were here 3 years ago, accommodation was like gold dust, but this visit we were able to find somewhere pretty quickly (low season). We spent our first night camping but got little sleep - some locals decided to erect a large frame tent at 2am...
The Perito Moreno glacier
We took trips to see a few of the glaciers this town is famous for. The Upsala (the largest in the region at 60km long), a tounge of ice flowing down from the southern icecap was the most impressive. We also visited the Perito Moreno, one of the few glaciers in the world that is still advancing. The ice forces itself up against a small island, splitting the lake in half and creating huge water pressures. In 2004 (a few months after we were here last time) the pressure forced through the ice wall resulting in a huge (very cold) explosion.
We also found a fantastic "Tenedor Libre" buffet restaurant - all you can eat for about a fiver. Bargain! A lot of time was spent in cafes indulging in "submarinos" - hot milk with melted chocolate.
After a few days we took a 4 hour bus ride to El Chalten at the northern end of the park, and right at the foot of the Fitz Roy massif. The town is expanding rapidly - new buildings are being erected everywhere and they are even putting in a paved road! We had arrived out of season and consequenty the weather wasnt all that great. We found a nice room and hung around town (and the local micro brewery) for a few days before plucking up the courage to head into the mountains and camp for one night at the base of the Laguna Torre and the glacier there. It rained a lot.
The hike to Laguna Torre
A few days later we met my mum and Eustache at Puerto Montt airport. They had just finished walking the Inca Trail in Peru and had flown south, into Chile to meet us. We hired a car and drove north to Pucon in the lake district, a beautiful region full of huge lakes and snow capped volcanos - not actually visible at the moment however, just lots and lots of grey cloud and rain....
We spent a few days exploring the area and doing a few local walks, waiting for the weather to change. A 6 hour stroll through Parque Nacional Huerquehue (through both rain and snow) still turned out to be very enjoyable, apart from the wet boots. After an hour or so of driving around searching for the start of the trek (and being ridiculed by the locals - idiot tourists walking in the rain) we trekked upto a plateau surrounded by 3 large lakes and many monkey puzzle trees. Graham, Peters GPS was very helpful with the route finding.
Mum and Eustash
The weather reports were spot on the for Friday, our 2nd to last day. We rose early and joined a group of 14 others (and the agency Politur) for an ascent of Volcan Villarrica, one of Chiles most active volcanos at 2847 metres high. We had not been able to even see the volcano before this morning due to cloud, but now we had a completely clear sky and it dominated the skyline. Whilst is had been raining in Pucon for the previous few days it had been snowing on the volcano and consequently we quickly found ourselves trudging through ankle to knee deep snow....
An hour later and about halfway up our guides gently broke it to the group that the icy conditions on the upper slopes were dangerous and it was unsafe to continue the climb. As luck would have it, I had previously mentioned to "Guido" (as in the starwars character) our Swiss guide that Kerry and I had summited Volcan Cotopaxi in Ecuador a few years ago. A good move on my part, as after the disappointment of being told we had to descend, he came over to us and told us that as we were the only ones confident with the use of crampons he had decided to continue up the mountain with just us! Proof that name dropping does sometimes work. On the way up we had a camera disaster - the zoom ring somehow managed to detatch itself from the body and the lens itself developed a nasty rattle. The zoom still works in a kind of trombone pulling and pushing type fashion. The main thing is it still seems to take photos...
After an hour and a half, and an exhausting zig-zag up ice and deep snow we were staring down into the volcanoes crater trying to avoid being poisoned by the large amounts of chlorine (our knowlegable guide insisted that it was chlorine, not sulphur) eminating from it. The views from the top were great, especially looking south with no less than 4 other snow capped volcanoes in view. There was a suprising amount of volcanic activity going on at the top, with deep rumbles and the occasional splatter of lava firing into the air. The last proper eruption of Volcan Villarrica occurred in the 1970s, when the escaping lava destroyed Conaripe an entire town to the south. Since then there have been one or two close calls, but nothing as severe. Volcanologists currently consider Chile to be in the pretty high risk category for another huge earthquake soonish (9 on the Richter scale). They now have a sophisticated early warning system in Pucon.
After a circuit of the crater we donned the protective over-trousers we had been issued and launched ourselves down the side of the volcano, sliding on our arses as fast as possible whereever there was suitable snow. Kerry managed to leave her ice axe at the top of a particularly steep bit, which I managed to scale and retrieve (the hardest part of the whole climb!) Sliding in this way can get pretty painful though, and I learnt the hard way that it is really not sensible to have you glasses in the old trouser pocket. I managed to bend them back into shape ok though.
The next day we headed south in the car. stopping off for a couple of hours at some themal baths in Conaripe. The drive was verz scenic - we could see the Volcanos Villarrica, Lanin (Argentina) and Choshuenco. In the evening we checked into a hostal in Puerta Varas and watched the sun set on Volcan Osorno.
Eustash, mum, Volcan Osorno and Kerry
The last light on Volcan Osorno
The Perito Moreno glacier
We took trips to see a few of the glaciers this town is famous for. The Upsala (the largest in the region at 60km long), a tounge of ice flowing down from the southern icecap was the most impressive. We also visited the Perito Moreno, one of the few glaciers in the world that is still advancing. The ice forces itself up against a small island, splitting the lake in half and creating huge water pressures. In 2004 (a few months after we were here last time) the pressure forced through the ice wall resulting in a huge (very cold) explosion.
We also found a fantastic "Tenedor Libre" buffet restaurant - all you can eat for about a fiver. Bargain! A lot of time was spent in cafes indulging in "submarinos" - hot milk with melted chocolate.
After a few days we took a 4 hour bus ride to El Chalten at the northern end of the park, and right at the foot of the Fitz Roy massif. The town is expanding rapidly - new buildings are being erected everywhere and they are even putting in a paved road! We had arrived out of season and consequenty the weather wasnt all that great. We found a nice room and hung around town (and the local micro brewery) for a few days before plucking up the courage to head into the mountains and camp for one night at the base of the Laguna Torre and the glacier there. It rained a lot.The hike to Laguna Torre
A few days later we met my mum and Eustache at Puerto Montt airport. They had just finished walking the Inca Trail in Peru and had flown south, into Chile to meet us. We hired a car and drove north to Pucon in the lake district, a beautiful region full of huge lakes and snow capped volcanos - not actually visible at the moment however, just lots and lots of grey cloud and rain....
We spent a few days exploring the area and doing a few local walks, waiting for the weather to change. A 6 hour stroll through Parque Nacional Huerquehue (through both rain and snow) still turned out to be very enjoyable, apart from the wet boots. After an hour or so of driving around searching for the start of the trek (and being ridiculed by the locals - idiot tourists walking in the rain) we trekked upto a plateau surrounded by 3 large lakes and many monkey puzzle trees. Graham, Peters GPS was very helpful with the route finding.
Mum and Eustash
The weather reports were spot on the for Friday, our 2nd to last day. We rose early and joined a group of 14 others (and the agency Politur) for an ascent of Volcan Villarrica, one of Chiles most active volcanos at 2847 metres high. We had not been able to even see the volcano before this morning due to cloud, but now we had a completely clear sky and it dominated the skyline. Whilst is had been raining in Pucon for the previous few days it had been snowing on the volcano and consequently we quickly found ourselves trudging through ankle to knee deep snow....
An hour later and about halfway up our guides gently broke it to the group that the icy conditions on the upper slopes were dangerous and it was unsafe to continue the climb. As luck would have it, I had previously mentioned to "Guido" (as in the starwars character) our Swiss guide that Kerry and I had summited Volcan Cotopaxi in Ecuador a few years ago. A good move on my part, as after the disappointment of being told we had to descend, he came over to us and told us that as we were the only ones confident with the use of crampons he had decided to continue up the mountain with just us! Proof that name dropping does sometimes work. On the way up we had a camera disaster - the zoom ring somehow managed to detatch itself from the body and the lens itself developed a nasty rattle. The zoom still works in a kind of trombone pulling and pushing type fashion. The main thing is it still seems to take photos...
After an hour and a half, and an exhausting zig-zag up ice and deep snow we were staring down into the volcanoes crater trying to avoid being poisoned by the large amounts of chlorine (our knowlegable guide insisted that it was chlorine, not sulphur) eminating from it. The views from the top were great, especially looking south with no less than 4 other snow capped volcanoes in view. There was a suprising amount of volcanic activity going on at the top, with deep rumbles and the occasional splatter of lava firing into the air. The last proper eruption of Volcan Villarrica occurred in the 1970s, when the escaping lava destroyed Conaripe an entire town to the south. Since then there have been one or two close calls, but nothing as severe. Volcanologists currently consider Chile to be in the pretty high risk category for another huge earthquake soonish (9 on the Richter scale). They now have a sophisticated early warning system in Pucon.After a circuit of the crater we donned the protective over-trousers we had been issued and launched ourselves down the side of the volcano, sliding on our arses as fast as possible whereever there was suitable snow. Kerry managed to leave her ice axe at the top of a particularly steep bit, which I managed to scale and retrieve (the hardest part of the whole climb!) Sliding in this way can get pretty painful though, and I learnt the hard way that it is really not sensible to have you glasses in the old trouser pocket. I managed to bend them back into shape ok though.
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The next day we headed south in the car. stopping off for a couple of hours at some themal baths in Conaripe. The drive was verz scenic - we could see the Volcanos Villarrica, Lanin (Argentina) and Choshuenco. In the evening we checked into a hostal in Puerta Varas and watched the sun set on Volcan Osorno.
Eustash, mum, Volcan Osorno and Kerry
The last light on Volcan Osorno
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