A different view of Cerro Torre

Wednesday, December 30, 2015
El Chalten, Patagonia, Argentina
Wed Dec 30
-we thought that an 8:45 start would give us enough time to sleep in but when the wake up call came in our creaky bodies were far from ready to go . Nonetheless we headed down for bfast with a hearty appetite
-we ended up being a few minutes late but the gregarious Rodrigo was accommodating as usual. We set off on the hike which for the first part was most through 20 foot pine like trees. The weather was awesome. 
-the first part of the hike had the climb and we were soon at the saddle. We could get a peek at Cerro Torre but the top third was shrouded in clouds. Rodrigo felt confident that the summit would clear as the day warmed. 
-down hill we went and then out into a meadow and sure enough the peak had cleared. We had stunning views of the needle like mountain but truth be told it was not as majestic as Fitz Roy with its neighboring spires. Still awesome though. 
-we made our was to the lagoon picnic spot and Finn found us a nice rock shelter to keep us out of the wind. The views were quite nice and we took a long lunch
-rested and fueled we started our trek back along a ridge. It was interesting to feel the wind wax and wane depending on the shape of the ridge of the boulder to windward
-the hike back was nice with stops to refill our bottles. I am still in awe that we can drink directly from the streams. As we passed out meadow from the morning I looked back and saw that Cerro Torre was shrouded in afternoon clouds. We certainly had timed the hike well. 
-by the time we walked back to the hotel it was after 5, so nearly 8.5 hours. We were tired, happy and hungry. We bid farewell and thank you to Rodrigo and started the evening routine. 
-per Rodrigo's advice, we tried Che Empanadas which indeed had the best empanadas of the trip. The bbq pork was awesome and the carne and other flavors were awesome as well. We wrapped up the day with well deserved gelato and then a very sound night of sleep. 
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