Hiking around Mount Fitz Roy

General Description

This Fitz Roy Trek also called Fitz Roy & Perito Moreno Glacier Adventure starts and ends at El Calafate and focuses on Los Glaciares National Park, visiting and hiking Fitz Roy & Cerro Torre, may be the two most emblematic mountains of Patagonia, and the Perito Moreno Glacier (only one in the world that shows a closure and rupture process due to unusual favourable conditions) You will travel in an active way, enjoying the company of fellow travellers.

Itinerary

Day 01: El Calafate
We welcome you at Calafate airport and transfer to town to check in at your hostel. By 7 pm the group meets in the lobby of the Hostel del Glaciar Pioneros, street Pioneros 251, El Calafate, to meet your guide, discuss details of your program and enjoy your welcome dinner together with your fellow travellers.
Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom or in Hosteria or Inn, double or single room with private bathroom.
Meals: Dinner.

Day 02: El Chalten - Capri Lagoon
Alter breakfast we take our bus for the 220 km long drive to El Chalten, a small and picturesque village at the foot of Fitz Roy " Cerro Torre massif. We make a stop half way to enjoy local pastries and hot coffee. Once in Chalten, we'll meet fellow travellers coming from up north (Route 40) and start our trek. We carry in our packs only the necessary items for this 3 nights and 4 days in which we'll overnight in our Full Camps inside the National Park. We hike up a gentle slope on Fitz Roy trail to gain height over the River de las Vueltas valley up to the first viewpoints over Fitz Roy massif. Our hike to Laguna Capri will take us no more than 2 hours and a half, in a clear and easy trail. Once on our Laguna Capri Full Camp, we leave our stuff in our tent and we enjoy an afternoon walk to the sightseeing points around the lagoon.
Full Camps are pitched up early in the season, so we find the camp ready upon arrival. It offers comfortable 3 people igloo type tents for each 2 passengers, with mattresses and sleeping bags. An inside cotton sheet is provided as inner clothing for the sleeping bag. The camp also features a spacious dinning tent, a kitchen tent, tables, benches or chairs and a full set of table service and kitchenware. The sanitary services are latrine-type.
Lodging at Laguna Capri Full Camp in double or single tent (rural area)
Meals: Breakfast, box lunch, dinner.

Day 03: Mount Fitz Roy, De los Tres Lagoon
Early in the morning, before the first coffee, we can try to match up the morning Light getting pink in Fitz Roy granite walls. You only need this to feel the trip is worthwhile. But of course the day offers much more. After breakfast, carrying only day personal items such as our parka, gloves, our camera, water bottle and box lunch, we hike along Fitz Roy trail up to Rio Blanco, climbers basecamp to the east side of the mountain. From here a steep 1 h trail leads us to one of the most spectaculars viewpoints of the National Park: Laguna de los Tres, with its zephyr blue colour, lays at the foot of the massif, offering full close up views of Fitz Roy massif spires and glaciers. Each wall rises something from 600 to 1500 mts above the surrounding glaciers. Fitz Roy, with its 3405 mts above sea level, is considered the "King of Patagonia" and also considered one of the three most beautiful mountains on Earth (together with Alpamayo in Peru and K2 in the Karakoram). We hike back to Laguna Capri in the late afternoon. Walking time is 5 to 6 hs.
Lodging at Laguna Capri Full Camp in double or single tent (rural area)
Meals: Breakfast, box lunch, dinner.

Day 04: Mount Torre
Today we make it around Laguna Capri to get to the Lagoons Madre and Hija Valley and down to Fitz Roy river valley, where we meet Cerro Torre trail and we get to Cerro Torre Full Camp. The trail runs along beech forest, bogs and shrubland. From the camp, a short hike takes us to Laguna Torre, enclosed by morraines and with the Glacier Grande calving in its west side. It is usual to see icebergs pushed by the wind in the coast of the lagoon. The thin and elegant 3128 mts of Cerro Torre group and the Adela range in the background complete this spectacular view. Walking time 3 to 4 hs.
Lodging at Cerro Torre Full Camp in double or single tent (rural area)
Meals: Breakfast, box lunch, dinner.

Day 05: Torre Glacier and Lagoon - El Chalten
In the morning we visit Laguna Torre again to reach the old Maestri basecamp, located in a high site up along the north morraine of the lagoon. For keen hikers, we offer an optional excursion, the so called "Holiday on Ice": early start, crampons and harnesses, a tyrolean (horizontal fixed rope attached to both sides of a river) to cross Fitz Roy river, and we visit Glacier Grande, where we will visit crevices, ice caves and we'll practice ice climbing with the proper advice of experienced mountain guides. Late in the afternoon we walk back to Chalten along Fitz Roy river valley. Total estimated time of the standard day: 4 to 5 hs. If you go on the "Holiday on Ice", it is 7 hs plus the trail back to Chalten which is 2 and a half hours more.
Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom or in Hosteria or Inn, double or single room with shared bathroom.
Meals: Breakfast, box lunch and dinner.
Optional excursion: Holiday On Ice


Day 06: El Chalten - El Calafate
Morning at your own to visit the picturesque village or to make optional excursions such as Lago del Desierto (in spite of its name, its a beautiful, beech forest surrounded lake, with hanging glaciers in its west side), or to see very interesting information at the National Park Visitor Centre. By 5 pm we take our bus to our next destination, El Calafate, gateway for the glaciers area of the Park. Arrival time is scheduled for 9 pm. Driving distance: 220 km
Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom or in Hosteria or Inn, double or single room with private bathroom.
Meals: Breakfast.

Day 07: El Calafate - Perito Moreno Glacier
We dedicate this day to one of the World's Natural Wonder: the Moreno glacier. This ice field- type glacier flows down from the Patagonian Icefield, a big sheet of ice that with its 22.000 square kilometres is the third largest glacier area in the world, after Antarctica (14 M sq km) and Greenland (1 M sq km). Because unusual favourable local conditions, this glacier is the only one in the world that shows a closure and rupture process. The road leads to the very front of the glacier, which will be only meters away from your eyes. A beautiful, short trail, will lead us from the shores of the lake to the upper viewpoints. The roar of the chunks of ice falling inside the glacier or from the glacier into the lake, the frequent collapse of the front seracs into the turquoise water, makes out of this day a very special and unique experience. We will drive 80 km (1 and a half hour) to get and come back from the glacier across the steppe, watching a wide variety of birds.
Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom or in Hosteria or Inn, double or single room with private bathroom.
Meals: Breakfast.

Day 08: El Calafate
After breakfast, transfer to the airport. (B).

Maps of Patagonia

Patagonia	Glaciares NP	El Chalten area

General Information and Price

Read our customers' feedback about this journey. Rated: Moderate

About the camps: All camps are set up by our staff. They feature wide igloo type tents we use in double or single base. Each tent has high mountain sleeping bags, individual sheets and insulating mattresses. The camp also counts with chemical sanitary services (basic), a large dining tent with tables, benches, dishes and complete kitchenware with a cook in charge to prepare meals.


Departure dates
Guaranteed departures every Saturday from 14 October 2006 to 14 April 2007
Every 3 weeks there is a departure with french,german or Italian guide. Please inquire

Private departure:
Any day between end of October and mid April

Fixed Departures
	Hostel room	Inn double room	Inn single room
USD	$ 830	$ 910	$ 1070
EUR	688	755	888
GBP	464	509	599

(*) Price last updated on 24 October 2006. Current price may vary due to elements out of our control, so please always check by sending us a
quotation request .

Private departures Hostel Room
	1	2	3	4
USD	$ 2435	$ 1493	$ 1245	$ 1082
EUR	2021	1239	1033	898
GBP	1363	836	697	606

(*) Price last updated on 24 October 2006. Current price may vary due to elements out of our control, so please always check by sending us a
quotation request .

Private departures Inn Room
	1	2	3	4	SGL Supp.
USD	$ 2595	$ 1546	$ 1297	$ 1135	$ 107
EUR	2153	1283	1076	942	89
GBP	1453	865	726	635	60

(*) Price last updated on 24 October 2006. Current price may vary due to elements out of our control, so please always check by sending us a
quotation request .
Single supplement not applicable to 1 person ... already included in the price


Included:
Bilingual tour leader during all the trip.
Mountain guides while on trek.
Moreno Glacier excursion.
All transfers El Calafate airport – El Calafate - El Chalten – El Calafate – El Calafate airport.
During the trip we combine private and regular buses.
Lodging as in the itinerary with hostel or Hosteria/Inn choice
7 breakfasts, 4 box lunch y 5 dinners

Not included:
Entrance fees to National Parks.
Medical and life insurance.
Tips.
Drinks and beverages (all foods are without alcoholic or non alcoholic drinks).
Flights or airport taxes.
Optional excursions.
Services not shown or detailed in the program.