Today, we will depart from El Calafate (town or airport) and travel through the typical landscape of the Patagonian steppe to El Chaltén. This ~3-hour journey reveals extensive grasslands, but also views of the Argentino and Viedma lakes and the Fitz Roy mountain range. Keep a sharp eye out and see if you can spot any of the wildlife that inhabits this area. Once we arrive in El Chaltén, you will be dropped off at your hotel to relax. We recommend taking a stroll around the town, which didn’t even exist before 1985!

After your arrival, the guide will visit the group for a short briefing of the upcoming activities.

Optional – Rock climbing

El Chaltén offers multiple options to immerse into the rock-climbing world, with our Guide we invite you to experience this wonderful activity.

In case it’s your first time you could try our climbing school and learn the basics but in case you’re an experienced climber we can climb up any of the multiple level high quality routes.

Given the proximity of the routes from any point of the town, our guide will suggest the best available option to perform the activity.

With a 3 hours duration the guide will introduce the security procedures as well as the basic concepts of rock-climbing maneuvers and equipment.

Difficulty level: introductory
Level of physical exertion: low
Duration: 3-4hs

Included: English speaker professional Guide, harness, helmet, climbing shoes, rope, security equipment, necessary permits

Our guide will meet you in the morning to take a private vehicle towards Lago del Desierto, located next to the Chilean border. It’s a gravel road along 37km with wonderful typical landscapes of the Patagonia among forest, mountains and glaciers that ends at the south shore of this lake.

After the arrival, our guide will give us security gear like helmet, gloves, reflective vest and will help us to adjust the bikes. Before the journey begins, we will have a review of the security basics and the proper use of bike’s brakes and gears.
Along the road there will be different stops to take pictures of incredible landscapes combining a crystal water river with cascades immersed into the forest.
We will have a vehicle supporting the bike ride in case any of the participants prefer to take a rest and enjoy the landscape from the van.
After 20km, we will arrive to Los Huemules reserve to have a pic-nic lunch and relax.

Inside the reserve we propose to visit Blue and Green lagoons thru an easy hike of 2:30hs.

At the end of the day, we will go to and ECO Lodge at Condor lake shore to spend the night and relax in a wonderful hot tub.

Transportation time from El Chaltén to Lago del Desierto: 1.30 hs
Mountain bike ride duration: 3 hs
Hiking time at Los Huemules reserve: 2.30hs

Today begins with a short transfer to the start of the trail into the National Park at Hostería El Pilar. From there, we hike along a beautiful trail through the lenga forest, following the Río Blanco (White River) towards the Poincenot campsite.  Along the way, we will stop to learn a little about the flora and fauna that is characteristic of the Patagonian Andean forest and also visit the beautiful Piedras Blancas (White Rocks) viewpoint. Here we will see the Piedras Blancas glacier and its associated glacial features, including the erratic boulders and lateral moraines left behind as the glacier retreated over the last few decades. We will have many different views of the Fitz Roy mountain chain as we make our way towards our objective for the day - the magnificent Laguna de Los Tres. This unforgettable location has the best view of Cerro Fitz Roy - and one of the most impressive vistas in all of Patagonia. We will have plenty of time to take in this unforgettable view before descending to the Poincenot campsite for snacks and drinks in advance of our dinner.

From our forest campsite, we will enjoy the first light of day breaking over the incredible Ritz Roy mountain range.

After breakfast, we leave Cerro Fitz Roy behind us and head off towards a lovely valley with rolling hills and the Lagunas Madre e Hija (Mother and Daughter lagoons). We will have plenty of time to stop and take photos and, if we are very lucky, we may even spot the small group of Cauquenes that is sometimes found in the area. The trail leads us through forests of Lenga and Ñires and across a large moraine before arriving at our destination - Laguna Torre (Tower Lake). 

Here, we will stop and have lunch while taking in the spectacular views of the Torres mountain chain and Glacier Grande (Big Glacier). If the weather conditions allow, we will then hike towards the viewpoint Maestri for the closest view of Glacier Grande. This viewpoint is named after the controversial Italian climber, Cesare Maestri, who designed his strategies for climbing one of the most difficult mountains in the world from this location.

Once we are ready, we will leave the lake and mountain and follow the trail through the Cerro Torre valley back to El Chaltén.

Group activity, up to 12 people.

After a 7:30 am pickup at your hotel, our epic adventure starts easily enough with a 1.5-hour transfer to the La Leona River. There, we will have a safety briefing, explain how to use all of the necessary equipment, and distribute both the equipment and thermal suits to each person. 

Once dressed, you will be allocated to one of the double kayaks and we will launch into the river. The guides will be in single kayaks so they can maneuver quickly through the group, providing further instruction on rowing techniques and looking out for the safety of everyone.

The first kayaking section is about 8 km long and should take us just over an hour. We will come ashore at Estancia La Meseta near Cerro Fortaleza for a well-deserved lunch break. While here, we will hike the incredible Cerro Los Hornos to a viewpoint that features fossilized bones and petrified trees.

We return to our kayaks to explore another stretch of the river, paddling past fascinating geological formations and the colorful vegetation that is typical of the Patagonian steppe.  Our vehicle will be waiting at the end of our journey to take us to El Calafate.

Kayaking Distance: 14km

Trekking Distance: 5km