From El Chaltén, we begin our journey by driving ~40 minutes to the bridge over the Río Eléctrico (Electric River). Our hike is initially quite flat and weaves along a trail through the gorgeous trees as it follows the river through the forest of the Río Eléctrico valley. We will stop for a brief rest at the Piedra del Fraile campsite and then continue our hike into a terrain that is vastly different to what we just traversed. 

From here, we enter a glacial environment that is far more open and offers magnificent views of Cerro Fitz Roy and the Polone spire. This is where the challenges begin. After fording the Pollone river and crossing the Upper Río Eléctrico via zipline, we will start to ascend steeply to find our campsite on the way to the Marconi Pass.

After breakfast we start our full-day exploration of the region close to our campsite.  For the majority of the day, we will be doing a non-technical hike on the Marconi Glacier. Your guide will assist you to put on your crampons and explain the best techniques for hiking on ice before leading the group into a different world. 

Although we will head in the direction of the Piergiorgio mountain, there is no set route for the excursion. The path your guide will take depends on the changing ice conditions. We will explore as many of the features of a glacier as possible before returning to our camp for a second night.

In the morning we return to Piedra del Fraile and wade across the Pollone River. After taking a break and rehydrating, we start our very steep and constant climb up to Piedra Negra (Black Stone) - the highest campsite for our journey.

After setting up camp and leaving most of our gear, we ascend along a snowy slope to the Paso del Cuadrado (Square Pass) for an unbeatable view of the alpine environment around El Chaltén. Once we have taken in the views, we will return to camp for a well-earned meal and to enjoy the sunset over the granite walls of the Guillaumet spire and the rest of the Fitz Roy range from our high vantage point.

We recommend you rise early to watch the sunrise over the spectacular view from this lofty campsite.  Once we have had breakfast and packed up camp, we descend down the known path to the Piedra del Fraile, and back through the forest to the bridge over the Río Eléctrico, Our transfer vehicle will be waiting there to take us back to El Chaltén.