El Chalten, Argentina

It is a clear morning and great conditions for seeing Mount Fitzroy. We set off on the Laguna de Los Tres, which is a walk to the closest you can get to Mount Fitzroy. This was explained as 4 hours each way with the final hour being a steep ascent to viewing point. This hour was about 1km in length but rose up 400m, gulp! I decided I could make the decision at that point and thus we set off with a tummy full of sweet breakfast. We picked up sandwiches and water, I was slightly distracted by cakes. Having decided we would need a reward for all this exercise, I bought 3…..2 for me and 1 for Justin. I felt I would need more motivation so I crammed the tray of cakes into the rucksack along with my more essential items. We hit the start and ascended up to walk along a ridge above the Rio Fitzroy. The path opened out to a panoramic view of the valley which was stunning, we pushed on strolling along with these great views. The landscape kept changing along with tree types and heights but included plenty of whispy litchen which I love. Couple of hours in you see Mount Fitzroy at a view point, looks like a painted backdrop with the crisp blue sky. The walking at this point isn’t challenging as it is mainly same level and undulating a little El Desnivelso plenty of time to soak up this stunning place. We bumped into Gabriel from the Antarctic boat and James from a previous hostel, such a small world. We hit Rio Blanco on time, and whilst Justin joked on the approach that people were walking up the hill in front….they were! I am not one to dramatise but this was more a cliff than a hill rising for the last past almost vertical. This was steeper than I had envisaged, but I figured that everyone said the view was worth it and it wasn’t going to be a race, I could just put one foot in front of the other and suck it up. I told Justin to go ahead as watching him skip up like a billy goat to then wait for me is frustrating and I needed my breaks. There were points in this cliff when you were just stepping up huge boulders, like giant’s walkway steps as you headed vertically. There is even a point where you think you are at the top to find you have to go further….but I made it. Loads of people at the top and legs were shaky by the time I found Justin. I earnt that cake! Absolutely phenomenal view of the Fitzroy massif, just stunning. Headed back down for the 10km return hike, we were pretty speedy and took the loop via Laguna Capri for a different view. My knees were killing me by the end and I had to take the small descent at the end really slowly. We both decided that if we went back to shower we may not make it out again, so we stopped en route at B&Bs. This burger joint had beer happy hour on as well, all tasted splendid as I inhaled it in my shattered state. Legs were now seizing up when I stopped so we went back for hot showers and my last cake!