Hiking at Fitz Roy (Sun 3/7)

 

Stats:
- 10 miles
- roughly 1200 feet of climbing

Well, it has been wonderful to stay in a clean room and enjoy a roach free environment.  We are staying at a place that opened only last October.  Everything is new and the bed is super comfortable.  Yeah, I told you this yesterday, but it was worth repeating.  It is such a welcomed change!  The shower leaks like a sieve, leaving the floor soaked.  I guess it is the reason for a squeegy on a broom handle as there is a drain in the floor.  Oh well, it is not perfect, but it is MUCH better.

Our first order of business was trying to find a pair of hiking shoes for Arn and a daypack.  We walked through town, checking each shop.  Really, without a lot of effort or stress, Arn found a pair of Salomon hiking shoes that he can also use for running.  And, we found a daypack that he has declared as his "new favorite daypack".  This is a good thing as he is the one carrying it.  This is lucky for my feet.

We headed off for a hike to see one of the towers near Fitz Roy. The tower is called "Cerro Torre". The end point of the hike was to the lake with a glacier in front of the Cerro Torre (tower).  The day was not perfect, but we hoped the weather would improve.  After a full day of rest and another day on the bus (all day long), we needed to get out for some movement.  Or as we like to say, "The dogs needed to be taken for a walk".  We were feeling a bit like caged animals.  The hike left directly from town.  We picked up some empanadas for lunch.  The choices were staggering....way more options than simply "carne".  We selected tomato basil, chicken, and beef empanadas.  On our way to the trailhead, we ran into Santiago (the Spainard we cycled with for a few days on the Carretera).  He and two other guys were headed to do the same hike and we decided to go together.  They were still trying to gather gear and climbing harnesses for some river crossing they wanted to do.  After 45 minutes of hanging around, we decided to head out without them.  It was a 10 mile hike and the time was nearing 1pm.

The hike was nice...no major climbs, no steep descents.  We reached a viewpoint over the valley and could see the glacier in the distance.  The tops of everything were shrouded in clouds and fog.  We continued, hoping for improvement.  It didn´t happen.  The temperatures were nice for hiking and we joked that we could even take the temps a bit cooler.  Well, sometimes you need to be careful what you wish for.  We reached the glacial morraine.  The trail stayed low and curved around to the lake and the glacier.  Well, once we gained views of the lake, we also gained a violent wind coming off the ice.  It was raining, windy, and unbelievably cold.  We basically walked up to the view, said, "yep, that´s it, now let´s get out of this".  We turned and started walking back up the trail (this was an out and back trail).

Once out of the wind and cold, we pulled out the empanadas.  We continued to walk and enjoyed the empanadas.  We kept thinking we would run into Santiago and the two guys we met with him.  So, we had our eyes out for familar faces.  I am convinced we met most of the people that were on the bus yesterday.  And, most of them had gotten an earlier start than we did. I looked down the trail and saw a person with a green jacket and a person with an orange jacket.  I told Arn, "That has to be the Canadians".  We started screaming, "Shauna, Shauna, Shauna".  And sure enough, it was Shauna and Jullian (we first met them in El Bolson and enjoyed beers together and met again on the Carretera Austral).  They too had gone to the lake, got beaten back by the wind and rain, but they took their lunch shelter in the campground.  So, we just missed each other at the lake.  

The four of us hiked together and shared travel stories.  They told us about the crossing from Villa O´Higgins and it sounded like they had good strategies for managing a tough hike-a-bike.  They removed their pedals and everything from their panniers.  This allowed their bikes to fit in the trench.  They managed to load all their gear onto their backs and pushed the bikes.  They also told us about another tire blowout.  They said that if there are 1000 tires you could pick for the Carretera, they rode on tires 998, 999, and 1000 .... not great tires.  The last 23 miles of riding into El Chalten took them 6 hours!  This is how bad the ripio was!!We told them about the boat trip to Laguana San Rafael and our day in the Valle de Los Exploradores.  We also told them about my rear hub.  In hind-sight, my hub came apart on the day we rode together (the four of us plus the Austrian and the couple from the U.S.).  Of course, at this point in the conversation Jullian revealed that he was carrying cone wrenches and could have fixed the hub.  We didn´t know there was a problem until the next morning after we had spilt company the afternoon before. Bummer!

As we continued along the hike, we ran into Phillipe, the Austrian.  He is still traveling with Shauna and Jullian.  He told us about his bike crash coming into Villa O´Higgins.  He has the holes in his clothes and skin to illustrate the story.  And, he told us that he too is carrying cone wrenches!! The five of us finished the hike in the cold and wind.  Arn was nearly frozen.  He continued to hike in a just a t-shirt and never broke out more clothes.  Shauna and Jullian had dreams of ice cream and once in town we headed to the "helado artesenal."  Arn had dreams of a hot cup of coffee until we walked into the ice cream shop.  It was toasty, warm, and smelled great.

Arn and I shared a bowl of three different ice creams -- coconut with dulce de leche, chocolate with cherry sauce, and banana split.  They were awesome and we don´t even like ice cream that much.  Over ice cream, we hatched a plan for tomorrow´s hike and will meet at the panaderia to buy empanadas.  We parted ways for the time being.  

Arn and I headed to the wine bar.  Several people have told us that the owners of the wine bar are very avid cyclists having ridden from the southern tip of South America to Alaska.  They lived in Alaska for a few years before returning to Argentina.  So, we thought they might know someone interested in buying mountain bikes as our trusted "ponies" are now for sale.  After a brief conversation, we figured "show and tell" is better than "tell".  We picked up the bikes and returned to the wine bar with them.  Once they looked them over, they started making phones calls.  Several people came buy to look them over and take test rides.  So, now we wait and return to see what people think.  

We enjoyed a pretty good pizza and a great salad for dinner.  Our food and lodging has greatly improved!  In fact, we have extended our stay in El Chalten by a day.