Huemul Circuit (and general Patagonia)

This was my first ‘proper’ hike, and what a way to start. Argentina is spectacular. Patagonia is mesmerising. It is one of the few mountain ranges left on Earth where the glaciers are not receding but expanding. It is much wilder than Switzerland, not much in the way of signages, no signal, no cablecars or cabins along the way.

I flew in to Buenos Aires, arriving late in the night. The next morning at 04:00 I left for the airport to fly to El Calafate, from where there is a bus to El Chalten, aka ‘the smoking one’. El Chalten is a hiker’s paradise, and is occupied only by hikers and mountaineers/climbers.

We did the first two days of the Huemul Circuit (“the toughest hike in Argentina” it said), to the Southern Patagonian Ice Fields. These ice fields are the biggest contiguous fields of ice outside of the poles. Winds are frequently 100 km/h, the landscape is savage, but the scenery is unforgettable. You have to rope yourself across a gushing river, walk along a glacier and you don’t see the ice fields until you’ve crested the Paso del Viento, after which you lose your breath as an endless expanse of white greets you.

We also did quite a few more day hikes, as well as a visit to the glacier Perito Moreno. Through it all, we had some of the best beef anywhere in the world.