Back in Argentina! El Chalten welcomed us back into tourist-land after spending a couple of weeks travelling the remote Carretera Austral in Chile. The views from town were amazing though and got us excited for our hiking days to come!

Weather didn’t look too good for the next days but we still decided to chance it and go on a 2-day hike to Laguna Torre (with views of Cerro Torre) and further on to Laguna de los Tres (with the iconic Fitz Roy looming above it). The day was rather windy and cloudy, and from the first viewpoints we couldn’t see Cerro Torre at all – but we didn’t give up our hopes and continued to the lake. There, we were welcomed by hefty winds – one gust was so strong that it blew me over! We found a little rock shelter but realized soon that there was no point waiting around. Cerro Torre was completely covered in clouds, and the strong wind made waiting around tough.

So we sadly gave up on seeing Cerro Torre and headed further into the direction of Camping Poincenot. Along the way, we passed some pretty lakes and the weather got a little bit better, so at least we caught some beautiful views of Fitz Roy from the valley!

Once we reached the camping, we set up our tent and hiked up to Laguna de los Tres with only our camera and some water. Good decision for it was a tough 1 h hike up! The wind was also getting stronger and stronger and I was seriously struggling. At one point, a gust blew my hiking pole into my face and slammed it on my lip which swelled up. Another gust ripped my sunglasses of my face and sent them flying across the bushes…gone with the wind! Up at the lake, the situation only got worse. I barely made it behind a big rock as a shelter, but actually looking at the lagoon and Fitz Roy was a challenge – even more so was taking photos. Every time I would peak around the rock, the wind would blow full speed into my face, so that I almost couldn’t see anything. Oufff! What an experience.

Down at the campsite we came back to a completely dusty tent and decided to eat bread and cookies for dinner, since cooking in these conditions would have been impossible (and half our plates would have consisted of dust). Mathijs then hiked up to the lagoon once again for sunrise – but there were many clouds, so not the best experience either!

After this, we were happy to return to town, where we spent the Christmas time rather relaxed and treated ourselves to two nights in a little cabaña instead of a tent. Our first normal bed in over 3 weeks!

On the 25th, the weather was too perfect to just sit around and relax though – so we quickly decided to hike up to Laguna Torre another time… this time seemed much more promising already from the first viewpoints on – we could actually see Cerro Torre peaking out of the clouds!

The closer we came, the more the clouds went away, and when we reached the lake Cerro Torre was showing himself to us in all its splendour. Wow! What a cool mountain.

This time, there was no wind at all and we were able to spend some time relaxing, enjoying and taking pictures from every angle. On our way back, we kept turning around for more and more good views of the mountain.

But we had to get back to town to get ourselves organised and rent some gear for our next big hike: the Huemul Circuit. This trek takes 4 days and requires you to rent a harness and carabiners to get yourself across two river crossings using tyrolesas. The hike is described as one of the most difficult ones in Patagonia and you really have to carefully watch the weather (wind) forecast before! There are two mountain passes that need to be crossed – Paso del Viento and Paso Huemul – which both can have hefty storms that can make crossings impossible.

Weather looked decent for the upcoming days though, so we decided to go for it! After registering ourselves at the rangers office (they check that you have rented harness and some other random equipment), we headed out into a super sunny morning with clear skies all over. So when we arrived at the crossing where the path to Loma del Pliegue Tumbado forks off, we decided to add a little side trip to our first day. We left the big backpacks behind some trees and headed up to the Mirador… and WOW, such a good decision!! Both Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy were out and the view from up there was simply stunning. In my opinion, if you get a very clear day, this is the best hike to do in El Chalten!

Once back down at our backpacks, we had a quick lunch and then headed onward to Lago Toro where our camping for the night would be. There were some pretty views along the way, especially towards the end when you descend into the valley that then leads up to the camping. But… the best views had been earlier that day, so I highly recommend adding this little detour to your Huemul Circuit.

Next morning, we got going very early, knowing it would be a tough day with the winds forecasted to pick up more and more in the course of the day. We were keen to make it across Paso del Viento before noon to avoid the heaviest gusts. After a short hike, we soon arrived at the first zipline. Zipping myself across wasn’t too hard, but attaching and sending the backpacks across to Mathijs was challenging.

Afterwards, we had to hike across some very rocky terrain for about 2h. It was very difficult to make out any trail – for the most part it was more like „find your own best trail“. We originally wanted to hike across the glacier which is next to the rocks but failed to find a good entry point so just kept flowing the Maps.me route roughly. It should be easier to walk on the glacier though and take much less time! At least we had some good views along the way though.

At the end of the glacier, we had breakfast at the Tunel campsite before the trail started to go up the pass more and more steeply. It was tough, but nothing I couldn’t handle. Only the wind got stronger and stronger the higher we got which I found a bit scary since it can easily throw you off balance. Mathijs didn’t have any issues at all and was walking as if there was nothing going on. Life’s not fair!

Up on the pass, we got almost blown away by the strong winds, up to 80-90km/h. The gusts in between were even stronger. It was a big struggle and I didn’t enjoy it at all. Then we got a view of the Southern Patagonian Icefield – the biggest one after Antarctica and Greenland. It was so impressive and made me feel so small!! But to be honest, it was hard for me to fully enjoy it in that moment since the wind was so fierce.

Going down the pass on the other side was even less fun. My knees were hurting a bit, it was slippery and the wind was trying to push me off the mountain so I had to be super careful. I’m so glad we found this one walking stick on our hike near Bariloche, else I don’t think I would have managed. We then followed the Icefield to our camping at Paso del Viento campsite where we already arrived in the early afternoon. I was tired and happy to chill in our tent for the rest of the day, even though I was very worried it might break in the strong winds (thankfully it didn’t).

Unfortunately we woke up to rain next morning. We had set our alarm super early at 4.30 to avoid the strongest wind at Paso Huemul, but there was no point in starting the hike. We would have been soaked within minutes and the rest of our day would have been even tougher. So we postponed our alarm a couple of times, until finally starting our hike around 9am only – when luckily it had almost stopped raining. Sun came out soon and we were so, so thankful for it!! The views over the icefield were awesome and this time I could even enjoy it with almost no wind during the first part of our hike.

When we got close to Paso Huemul, we took an early lunch, knowing we would need lots of energy for the pass, and readied ourselves to face the storm. In the end though…it was actually alright! This time, the wind was in our favour, kind of pushing us up the mountain which made the ascent much easier. Nice! The higher we got, the more the wind picked up though and going not just up but slightly right or left became difficult. On the pass itself, the wind was almost blowing us over again and we had to seek shelter behind a rock to enjoy the view of the Icefields one last time.

We then quickly descended a bit to get out of the strongest wind and were surprised by another amazing view over Lago Viedma and its little bays with hundreds and hundreds of ice bergs floating around! I have no words to describe it properly, it was just SO beautiful. After enjoying lunch part 2 with that kind of view, we started the further decent which was not too much fun: the path leeds down the mountain really steeply, mostly on loose dirt and rocks. There’s lots of sliding involved, but luckily there’s many bushes to hold onto, aaand the constant amazing view of the bay and the icebergs to keep you going.

We reached the camping by mid-afternoon, and found the most beautiful campsite of our trip so far. Red mountains in the back, and icebergs floating in hundreds right in front of us, glittering in the sun. Awesome!

We had heard that sunrise should be very beautiful here too, so set our alarm early again. Again, we woke up to some drizzles, but luckily it stopped and we were able to experience a magical sunrise!! No one else in the camping bothered to wake up, so we had it all to ourselves. It was simply beautiful and one of my favourite moments of the 4 day hike.

The last day then was the most boring and in a way hardest. My whole body was in pain from the days before and especially my knees were hurting. We first did a little detour to the small peninsular nearby where we got some more beautiful views, this time not just of the icebergs but also the glacier behind.

What followed then was a bit of an odyssey through the hills. Since Maps.me had been so helpful so far, we followed it again, but at one point there was no trail anymore and we got ourselves properly stuck in the mud. Damn! We then had to navigate with GPS and just follow some cow trails here and there, mostly going without a trail. It was a bit frustrating and we were wondering how we had lost the main trail in the first place. But in the end…we made it down the hills to the 2nd zipline – this time much longer but also much more fun!

After that, it was only a short walk to Bahia Tunel, where some girls (bless them!!) waited for us to give us a ride back to town. We were so happy and thankful! There’s no bus, and walking back to town would have added another 7-8 km to our last day. A good way to end a tough, but super awesome 4 day hike!