el chalten (lago torre ice glacier trek)
i figure while i’m here, i might as well do as many things as i can…so glacier trekking here i come! we tried shopping around for prices but all the companies offered the same price…unless you have a ‘get south’ book with coupons. mention the book at mountaineering patagonia and they will give you a 5% discount. we chose the laguna torre ice glacier trek for 285 pesos. not bad considering everything you get to do.
a group of 7 eager trekkers and 3 guides met up at 6.45h…the hike wasn’t so bad until we got to a spot where you have to cross the water by hooking your harness to the cord and pulling yourself across upside down. i got to the middle and realized i couldn’t pull anymore…probably due to years of not working out. it looked so easy when everyone else went! i grunted and put forth all my energy and finally at the shore one of the guides had to come down and pull me over. how embarrassing. i blame the backpack that was weighing me down. haha. from here we could see the glacier but our guide informed us it was still another 3 hours…
the view was incredible the whole way, but nothing compared to the view when we finally reached the edge of the glacier. with the cerro torre in the backfround, we could see cracks and holes where rocks had been moved to reveal untouched glacier. here where the water pooled, the color was so pretty. clear turquoise.
we attached claw-like spikes to our shoes so we could walk on the ice and finally started our adventure on the glacier. if there was a little hill, our guides carved out steps with their tools so we could follow. walking on the glacier was easy-at least with the help of the claws. after a short walk we were at our spot where we would try glacier wall climbing. it was also lunch time! it was really cool to look around and be surrounded by glacier walls as we ate.
the guides set up our safety ropes and in no time were calling us down. i’ve done wall climbing but this wall looked daunting because it was flat. but it wasn’t too tall…about 25 feet. you’re harnessed anyway and the guide gives you just enough tension so i wasn’t scared of falling. i’m sure he could’ve pulled me up from where he was standing at he bottom. the spikes we attached earlier also helps you climb, but this took a bit of getting used to. basically, you have an ice pick in each hand that you stab into the ice, and pull yourself up as you push down with your weight on your feet. i was surprised at how much weight the claws could hold! done correctly and the claws at your toes are strong enough to hold your weight. the guides scaled the wall like there were footholes. once you reach the top, coming down is like rock climbing where you just rappel down bouncing against the wall. what an incredible experience…i would so recommend it to anyone that has a chance!
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