Grinch Mountain
Day 199
Finally a day to get out into the wilds of Patagonia, granted its not a multi day trek or anything but I’ve been waiting to do a proper hike here and get closer to these amazing mountains. We planned the 17km return trip to Laguna Torre, a glacial lake near the base of Cerro Torre. Or as I like to call it, the grinch mountain. Jordana, Natasha, Seamus and I met Irene in the kitchen for breakfast. We had our own cereal this morning, a very nice change from media lunas.
After breakfast we walked about 700 meters down the street to the trailhead. This was the great thing about El Chalten, the proximity to the trails was fantastic. We climbed steeply up a dusty hillside before the trail levelled off and we overlooked a wetland area. It was beautifully silent except for the chrips of the few birds that darted about. After following a rushing stream through an area of southern beech forest we came upon a viewpoint. Our first glimpse of the granite needle of Cerro Torre. The 5 of us took a moment to just watch in silence and snap a few pictures. Its the most beautiful mountain I’ve ever seen.
From here the trail led down into a river valley and every so often we turned into the ancient looking woods. We always had the mountains in our view which made the walk very enjoyable. Just over 3 hours after we began we reached the small Lake Torre. Across the lake rose 2900 meter Cerro Torre with several other snow covered peaks to either side. Snaking in between the mountains was a glacier the ended at the lakeside. In the lake floated several large chunks of ice that had broken off. A stiff cold wind blew as we settled on some rocks for lunch. I still think it looks like the Grinch’s mountain, I almost expected to see a green grinch wave from the top of Torre. I wished we had tents to spend the night, I loved this spot. It felt so remote, quiet and wild.
The return trip was far less dramatic as the high peaks were at our backs. Seamus collected some water from the river in his water bottle that we all tried. Its not often you can drink glacial water that has just melted, it tasted great and incredibly cold. We could bottle this and probably sell it for $4 a bottle back home! Hmmmm
We finished the hike late in the afternoon and back at the hostel had some pumpkin soup. Without camping gear this was probably the best day hike we could do and it really did live up to its billing. Irene caught a 6pm bus to El Calafate and the four of us fell asleep, exhausted from our day. Yeah were all in crap shape.
For our last El Chalten night we decided to go out for dinner. Being the beginning of the season here most restaurants are closed still. It was a real challenge finding a place open and we pretty much did another hike walking the spread out town looking for a place. Finally we found Pangea, I had a great trout dinner, actually my best meal in Argentina. The others? Well not so great. Fun was had though over wine and beer as Seamus and I planned how we would “fix” El Chalten. Sleep came fast as my legs were pretty tired from the walking, I fell asleep thinking of the next jaw dropping attraction we would see, the Perito Moreno glacier.
Tags: Argentina, Cerro Torre, El Chalten, Grinch who stole christmas, Patagonia
Michael Coroneos
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