A few years back I read an article about mountaineering in Patagonia and it featured a photo of a certain mountain, Cerro Torre. I was amazed and I made the plan to pay that mountain a visit, just from below of course! climbing it exceeds both my skills and will to suffer.
So I headed south which meant taking a bus along the Ruta 40 for two days, a famous road that crosses Argentina from nort to south always following the Andes. In the middle I visited the Cuevas de los Manos in an impressive canyon in the middle of nowhere with rock paintings dating back up to 8000 years. As if that was not yet enough there were also a lot of alpacas, a kind of Llama, a fox (in spanish ‘zorro’) and condors.
Rock Paintings in the ‘Cuevas de los Manos’
Once I arrived in El Chaltén, the small mountaineering and hiking village, I was already rewarded with views on Fitz Roy and I got excited. The next nine days were full of the outdoors and I enjoyed every single moment of it. It was simply great and except the fact that I broke my camera I loved every moment of it. That had also to do with the company I found, starting with Caroline and the two german girls Maren & Nora, my bouldering buddy Andy and Conny as well as the australian couple. El Chaltén was absolutely worth the trip and of course I have not seen all mountains of the world but until I see a better one I name Cerro Torre the most beautiful mountain in the world!
Cerro Torre
On the way to Paso del Viento