El Perro Negro's Day to Day Ramblings
I know its not nor even , but ... sandwiched between brutal weather alerts for wind and rain, we had a precious half-day window. The target? Chorillo del Salto, a popular waterfall just outside El Chalten. A 9km round trip with barely a hill to climb seemed like the perfect, sensible mission.
Came across this happy chappy yesterday when slightly away from the main trail.Word balloon time? What's he thinking? 🤣
The Patagonian weather is finally breaking. After days of settled conditions, the script has flipped: while patches of sun still linger, the peaks are now swaddled in cloud, and the wind has arrived with a vengeance. These are the strongest gusts we’ve felt in the 13 days since we arrived. A proper Patagonian welcome.
I wrote a blog post at https://scribbles.page/patagonia-diaries/posts/a-windy-morning-on-cerro-antenna
Very windy and cloudy day today. Cerro Torre was clagged in but Fitzroy range kept appearing out of the cloud, especially Aguja Poincenot 3002m, whose summit was often bathed in sunshine.
We did a short half day hike up some lower hills where we came across Condors and Guanaco. When the high hills are out because of the weather you can still have fun.
Few weeks ago I installed MiniOS on a 15 year old Dell Ultrabook to take with me on my travels in South America. Small, lightweight and fast. Runs also from USB. Working a treat here.
minios
Inspired by yesterdays retreat I wrote a blog post ...
We were at 1,276 meters on Loma de Pliege Tumbado, a spot I’d called my favourite viewpoint in all of Patagonia. We had sweated for five hours to get here for this overnight bivouac. Sunset was in three hours. It was cold and winds were building. And now, my wife was offering me a way out, sealed with a single, magical word: Malbec.
"OK," I said. "Let's go."
https://scribbles.page/patagonia-diaries/posts/how-a-bottle-of-malbec-lured-me-off-the-mountain
Last nights proposed bivouac spot!
Many thanks to the person who, unknowingly entered into the frame of this sunrise shot and whose silhouette showed the vast scale of the Cerro Torre mountain behind them. Sometimes you need a bit of luck. Whoever you are, thanks, I owe you a beer in El Chalten!
Campo Base D'Agostini - here is our kitchen, lounge, utility room and bedroom
Here's another. Cerro Torre sunrise this morning
So glad I managed to leave the comfort of my sleeping bag this morning.
6am Cerro Torre sunrise
How the Web Became Unreadable
The Chalten range from near Mirador de los Condores. Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy prominent. Red firebush in the foreground
Cerro Torre from the east
Lots of bars do "happy hour" here. Most do 16:00 to 20:00 but found one that did 13:00 to 21:00. Also, $5000 for a pint of fine draft beer seems a lot doesn't it? In fact $5000 Argentine pesos is about $4 US dollars or just over 3€!
Anyway fills the time between finishing hiking and going to bed quite nicely 🤣
@TimKStanton yeah, full res much better but here is location. Will get better photos when I get closer later in my trip
The summits of Cerros Torre, Egger and Standhardt.
If you zoom in you can just see a very small patch of snow on the upper headwall that still contains the infamous compressor used by Maestri in 1970
Reflections
Another cracking day. Cerro Torre and Fitzroy prominent in the image.
This perfect weather has made us realize we need to go higher while we can. We have to take advantage of this window before the inevitable clouds and winds return. With the fine weather set to continue, this afternoon we'll pack for our first higher altitude adventure: an overnight bivouac on Loma del Pliegue Tumbado tomorrow
Mt Fitzroy appearing above the Patagonian forest yesterday.
More images and information about this hike on our TravelLog at https://scribbles.page/patagonia-diaries/posts/an-inadequate-description-of-a-perfect-patagonian-hike
