Technically, I guess it was a walk in the Park, though it certainly wasn’t your average sunday afternoon stroll….
I also suppose that I might have been slightly naive in my reasons for going on the trip. I was sitting on the bus on the way back to Chalten and I decided that I really wanted to be able to see and to photograph Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre from the other side: from the ice field. As good a reason as any, but the circuit has so much more to offer than just that!
Fitz Roy from the front
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t that confident that we’d make it when we left Chalten. The weather forecast wasn’t promising and the first day’s walking saw us meet two other groups that were attempting the same route as us. All of them were retreating. One of them had spent a few days in the refugio on the Marconi Pass before bailing out, the other group had their tent destroyed by the wind at the first campsite.
Valle Electrico from the first camp
The trend continued the next day, with another couple of groups retreating off the Marconi Glacier as we ascended towards it: despite the reports from these groups of bad conditions, and the uninspiring weather forecast that we had, we had started so we might as well try to get up the pass anyway. It was a bit breezy on the way up, but we chanced upon an absolute gift: a perfectly constructed snow shelter left by a party of Russians that had passed through the day before (we could tell it was them by the litter they had left – good skills with the construction of the shelter, but not much in the way of respect for the landscape). We camped there, right in the middle of the Marconi Pass that night.
In fact, we spent a few days camped there, pinned down by the weather. Occasional breaks would allow me to sneak out with the camera, and as luck would have it, we even got a peek at Fitz Roy through the clouds on the first night. After two days stuck in the same spot, we decided to take advantage of a brief break in the weather to move to a refugio an hour’s walk away (not being sure that the tent would survive another night). We might have been in a bit of a rush to get the tent down and the gear sorted, but I managed to snatch a few quick shots while the weather was good – I got the shot of Fitz Roy from behind that I’d wanted!
Fitz Roy from behind
The refugio provided some welcome shelter, and more exceptional views over the Ice Field. The relatively calm weather lasted long enough to get some shots at dusk, before darkness fell and the wind returned. Definitely a good decision to abandon the camping that night!
The next morning the weather had broken, so we made a break for it. Most groups camp half way down the Ice Field, with the possibility of exceptional views of Cerro Torre. By the time we got there around 2pm, the wind had returned and we had to carry on. It seemed that I was going to miss out on the other half of my original reason for being there but as we plodded on in the snow shoes, the clouds parted just briefly…. I’m not sure if it was the summit of Cerro Torre or Cerro Egger that poked briefly through the hole in the clouds, but it made my day anyway! It lasted just a few seconds – no time to get the camera out – but for some reason I’m ok with that. I’d set my heart on seeing it, and over the four days leading up to it had slowly resigned myself to the fact that it wasn’t going to happen. Happening to glance up the one time that it peeked through seemed like a gift: perhaps a reward for having made the effort when everything seemed stacked against us.
And to be honest, there was so much more out there to enjoy out there that if I hadn’t seen it, it would still have been an amazing trip. The 60 to 70 mph winds (gusting lord knows what!) meant that it wasn’t easy or practical to stop and spend a lot of time setting up a photo, but the views really were stunning. I’ve nothing that really does the day justice, and I’m not a good enough writer to express it properly, so you’ll just have to take my word for it this time.
As Adrian said after the trip: everyone makes it round the circuit when the conditions are good. Not many make it when the weather’s like what we encountered. It might not have leant itself to working the angles photographically, but I’ve still come back with a few images I love, the satisfaction of actually having to work a little to complete the route, and with a couple of new friends. All in all, I think the job’s a good ‘un!
new friends
A big vote of thanks to Carl and to the team at El Chalten Mountain Guides, and particularly to our guide Adrian who had the faith to keep going with us when other’s were turning back – cheers lad!
