Backpacking South America

After an amazing day visiting Cerro Torre, we decided to press our luck and do a two-day hike to the base of the legendary Mount Fitz Roy the following day. Learning our lesson from Paso de las Nubes, we packed light and got going around 11.

After a quick 6 mile hike, we arrived at Campamiento Poincenot, set up our tent and gazed at Mount Fitz Roy, just waiting to get a bit closer.  What’s incredibly amazing about these mountains is that people come from all over the world to climb them or even try to summit them, particularly Mount Fitz Roy and may wait months for good weather. I am in awe of the kind of people who can even attempt this kind of feat.

The guide books all say the sunrise over the Fitz is an amazing experience, so we got in our tent shortly after 9pm, while it was still light out with an alarm set for 4:30 am. We thought we were crazy. Fortunately, we found another couple to climb to Laguna de los Tres at the base of Fitz Roy with us. We met just shy of 5am, headlamps and every piece of warm clothing on and made our way. There was no moon , the sky was full of stars, and the bushes near the river were all covered in frost as we blazed the trail up the mountain.

It wasn’t long before we were all shedding our layers as we scaled the steep face of the mountain. About 3 quarters up the hill, we started to see the horizon lighthen up and beautiful colors stretch across the valley.

We made it to the top in the pre-dawn shortly after 6pm. We quickly re-layered and waited for the sun to rise. It was beautiful, but the infamous glow wasn’t coming… We all began to wonder, are we too close to see the full splendor of the sunrise on Fitz Roy?

Not even 2 minutes later, the first ray of sun struck the peak of the mountain and it just seemed to glow. It was as if the top was on fire. We watched the red flames spread down the mountain. It was truly one of the most amazing sights we’ve ever seen.

* check out the set at the bottom to see the full progression.

After basking in the glow, we pulled out the stove, boiled some water and prepped our morning cup of coffee and tea. It was the ideal start to a perfect day in El Chalten.

Carra started to wonder that maybe she should hike in the dark more often as she has no idea how steep or close to the edge she is when she’s hiking in the dark. We eventually made our way down, took down camp and hiked out. It is the most memorable, most amazing adventure of our trip.