ARGENTINA: Buenos Aires, Patagonia, Fitz Roy, Tierra del Fuego | PhotoSeek | World Travel Photo Gallery, Tips, Classes, Best Digital Cameras Reviewed

ARGENTINA: Patagonia, Buenos Aires

In Argentina, astounding Patagonia scenery and great trekking between comfortable mountain lodges rival any in the world. We left winter in Seattle to enjoy summer in Buenos Aires, Patagonia (Argentina & Chile), and Antarctica from February 3 to March 11, 2005.

Frequent flights from Buenos Aires go to a good airport at El Calafate. Awesome and popular Moreno Glacier is a half-day trip by car from El Calafate.

As of 2011, the road from El Calafate to the frontier town of El Chalten is paved and just 2.5 hours by car (formerly gravel and 5 hours by bus in 2005), hastening visitors to the Mount Fitz Roy Range for world-class trekking and climbing. We nestled into a comfortable cabin with kitchen. Multi-night backpacking trips can be done with optional horse support, but frequent high winds can thrash tents all night.

Click here for our 2005 Patagonia/Antarctica trip planning notes (21 pages).

When to visit Patagonia (southern Chile and Argentina)

The best time to visit Patagonia may be from March to April, when tourists disappear, yet most services remain open, wild windy weather calms somewhat, and beech tree forests glow with fall colors. At the beginning of March, children go back to school, parents go home, and crowds disappear.
Late February through March has less wind and rain than earlier in the summer.
High tourist season in Patagonia runs from December to the end of February, when accommodation and other services should be booked in advance.
Avoid overcrowding January to mid-February in Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina.
Patagonia is very windy all year. November can be the windiest. September to January are frequently blasted with high winds (gravity-fed katabatic winds or williwaws) which rush off the Patagonian icecap at 60 mph all day, sometimes up to 100 mph. Even in late February/early March, which have the lightest summer winds, we experienced steady 50 mph winds about every third day!
The ozone hole over Earth’s southern atmosphere is worst September to mid-October and continues through January — apply sunscreen every day, including cloudy days.

Hikes from El Chalten into the Fitz Roy Range

Laguna de los Tres (15 miles, 3200 feet round trip) is one of earth’s most spectacular glacial cirques, a favorite hike. Be sure and ascend the 300-foot hill above Laguna de los Tres (Lake of the Three) for the best view, which includes glacial-turquoise Lago Sucia (Dirty Lake) far below. Options: backpack or horsepack to the campground for 2 or 3 nights for more time exploring awesome beauty.
Loma del Pliegue Tumbada (12 miles, 3000 feet round trip, plus 3 miles and 1000 feet higher if you go to the top of the third hill with the best view). Views are so impressive that we hiked a second time in better weather. See Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy together at several viewpoints. Start this spectacular hike at Los Glaciares National Park Visitor Center (before crossing the river bridge into south end of El Chalten). Start early to photograph classic sunrise views of the Fitz Roy Range on the main road a few hundred yards east of the Visitor Center.
Torre Lake (6 hours round trip) has an excellent close view of Cerro Torre. Halfway there, cool standing-wave clouds capped Fitz Roy, but clouds obscured Cerro Torre and 50 mph winds at the pass turned me back.
Rio Electrico to Cerro Electrico gives spectacular views looking south to the Fitz Roy Range. Optionally hire pack animals to support a tenting trip here or possibly overnight at private Refugio Los Troncos. The day hike is very steep to Cerro Electrico with good views along the way. Please contact me if you’ve done this hike.

Moreno Glacier, Los Glaciares National Park

Easy boardwalks and stairs give wide views of Perito Moreno Glacier, an impressive wall of ice 200 feet high, 3 miles (5 km) wide, flowing into Lake Argentina in Los Glaciares National Park, in Santa Cruz province. Easy access to the awesome glacier makes it one of the most popular sights in South America. The glacier flows up to 2300 feet thick and originates in the huge Hielo Sur (Southern Icefield). Advancing equals melting (up to 2 meters per day, 700 meters per year), so the terminus has stayed in the same place in the 90 years preceding 2005. The flowing ice periodically dams an arm of the lake which rises for a few years then breaks across the nose of the glacier as a crashing river (in March 2004 and 1991). In 2005, a narrow river flowed across the face of Moreno Glacier which calved large chunks of ice into the water with a loud crash several times per day.

Getting there: We bused from Puerto Natales (Chile) to El Calafate (Argentina), where we rented a car for the half day trip to see the Perito Moreno Glacier. From Lago Argentino Airport (FTE, located 20 kilometers east of Calafate), we flew back to Buenos Aires.

The best way to photograph the glacier is to rent a car in El Calafate, drive in early, 2 hours one way, and experience morning light from the boardwalks. Sunset light may also be good. For two or more people, car rental is cheaper and more flexible than bus tour. Most people take a bus tour round trip from El Calafate 8:30am to 5:00pm, which most hotels can book upon your arrival.

Add side trip for a week (4 days minimum) in El Chalten hiking near spectacular Mount Fitz Roy.

Ushuaia and Tierra Del Fuego National Park, Argentina

As the port closest to Antarctica (400 miles across the Drake Straight), Ushuaia hosts most of the cruise ships that visit the southernmost continent.

Sample itinerary

Our private group traveled from Seattle to Buenos Aires, Patagonia (Argentina & Chile), and Antarctica from February 3 to March 11, 2005.

We flew 1500 miles from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, Argentina, on Tierra del Fuego Island, where we cruised 12 days round trip through the Beagle Channel and across the rough 400-mile Drake Straight to explore the frozen Antarctic Peninsula. We then flew a short hop from Ushuaia to working-class Punta Arenas, Chile, and took vans and buses in Patagonia to visit the nice tourist town of Puerto Natales and the astounding scenery of Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. Then we bused into Argentina to see the bustling tourist town of El Calafate, spectacular Moreno Glacier, fun frontier village of El Chalten, and awesome Mount Fitz Roy. To return, we flew from El Calafate to Buenos Aires, then to Seattle.

Recommended Patagonia, Argentina, Chile, and Antarctica books and maps

Search for latest Patagonia travel books at Amazon.com:

Search for latest Argentina travel books at Amazon.com:

Search for latest Chile travel books at Amazon.com:

Search for latest Antarctica travel books at Amazon.com:

Posted on Sunday, December 11th, 2011 at 11:47 am. Filed under: All, Argentina, South America, Travel Advice, Travel worldwide RSS 2.0 feed.

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