Icy Lake

April 4, from the itinerary, Laguna Torre: advanced full day. From one of the accesses to El Chaltén, we hike up a trail to a valley with shrub-like vegetation and get an ample view to the Torre Mount. 2100 feet, 10.9 miles.

We left for Laguna Torre at 8:00mfor our last day of hiking. It was just Chris and I and my massage therapist from the first day. Our guide was Fabio. Here are some pictures from the bus.

The day started with the same boring 45 minute drive as yesterday, but we had some beautiful views of Fitzoy and those going up to Tres Lagos were going to have lovely views today.

Here's the start of the trail

We walked by the Cascade Margarita and over the Fitzroy river and saw wrens.

It was a nice hike up first to the Mirador Torres. This was the section of the hike with some small elevation gain. There were some lovely views which featured both the Fitzroy and Cerre Torre which I think is even more beautiful (it is a tall finger of a mountain to the left of the Fitzroy).

Then down again and across a valley. This part of the hike was actually a bit harder than the other parts because the stones were so big and uneven, although a flat area. The vistas were lovely with the leaves changing for autumn.

We got to the last part before we came up to the Lake and started to feel the wind which got even stronger as we crested the last hill, probably higher than 60MPH. It just about blew us over at the top.

The lake was amazing. The air was cold and you could see the mountains, the Grand Glacier and ice bergs in the water.  You could see the wind carry the water.  There were some very thin sheets of ice which looked like lace.

Along the way today, and several other days, we saw lenticular clouds which are unique to high wind areas.

Chris got blown over

There were some areas with a bit of a wind shield built up with wood to act as a wind break. We were able to find one and had lunch.

Lunch was veal sandwiches with mustard, pickles, tomato, lettuce and pumpkin soup.  Strange little almond cookies and coffee bags which made awful coffee.

On the return journey the wind was at our backs. We ended up with a very fast time for us - about 6 hours which included the lunch stop.  Clouds closed in this afternoon and peaks disappeared. We walked back a bit differently, along a horse path. The last downhill to the van was extremely steep. I think this was a short cut, but there's some disagreement on this.

18:30 I had a massage. It was good, but not as good as the first one. 

Before dinner I had an espresso martini.  Dinner was guanaco pie and half order of Gnocchi.  Both were really good. Chris had chicken which wasn't as good as the first time, but still no bad.  The sides were roasted tomato, roasted pepper and lettuce.  Desert was almond ice cream and desert wine. No pictures unfortunately

We packed tonight to be ready to leave in the morning. A bitter sweet experience.