On the way out of the airport in Calafate - felt weird being away from the city, and the weather was a bit intimidating
Didn't get much (any) sleep the night before...you can tell in this pic
We see the glacier! And also begin to endure the freezing cold...
Zooming in on other groups doing the same thing we were about to do
Approaching perito moreno
The sign says to not get any closer to the glacier waters - as large chunks fall off the glacier they cause waves of freezing cold water - have to keep your distance
Boots got a temporary upgrade!
The compressed ice filters out some wavelengths of color and thus looks a deep blue
Unique thing about this glacier is that it is low altitude - one of the only areas you can see trees next to a glacier
Favorite shot from Perito Moreno
Nothing to wrap up a walk on the glacier like some whiskey with glacier ice! This is the first (and only) time I will have a drink where the ice has aged (much) longer than the whiskey!
Not such a luxurious ham+cheese lunch
Panorama from the balcony near the glacier
"elephant rocks"
So many cute strays around. Some make their way into the hostel.
Splitting a cab to the bus station to head to Puerto Natales, Chile!
Zaahj turismo bus rest stop
Our hostel in Prt. Natales - hilarious
Practicing setting up our tent before the trek
The three valleys we trekked through - first up to glacier grey, then to the middle Valle del Frances, then to the right to Base Las Torres
The Black Sheep - great resource for everything in the area
Our favorite restaurant in Puerto Natales - 'Afrigonia'
Guanaco herd on the way to the Torres
Dozens of condors circling overhead. Kind of intimidating knowing they were each as big as me
Just before we started the trek...we had no idea what we were in for!
Bus dropped us off here on the left, then it's a ~45 minute boat ride to the launch point for the trek
Windy and wet to start the trek
Windy and cold! Downwind of glacier grey here on day 1
wind was so strong
Panorama didn't turn out perfectly, but this is the river leading up to glacier grey, day 1 of trek
...and cold, that's glacier grey in the background
could barely stand at some points
Our first dinner! Pasta with a can of tuna. delicious.
Barely made it through night one without getting hypothermia!
Backtracking out of the first valley to continue our trek eastwart to Valle Frances
Delicious, fresh, clean, ice cold glacier streams everywhere to refill water
Across the river lies Campamento Italiano - night two!
Note the sleeping bags in the trees - airing them out because of how wet they got the night before
A glimpse up Valle Frances - where we would trek the next day
That's me off to the right! Heading up valle frances
Hiking up to Valle Frances
Not much wildlife besides birds on the trek
Nearing the end of Valle Frances, looking eastward at the Torres here (our final destination of the trek is on the other side of those mountains looking back this way)
Ian - man of the mountains!
Kind of looks like I'm eating the tree? Weird angle but nice shot
Panorama of Valle Frances and the Torres
Turning around and looking back from Valle Frances
Best weather we had for the whole trek
We could hear avalanches throughout the night - like thunder, but louder, and lasting 20-30 seconds each time
So nice to take a break and enjoy the scenery
Looking up valle frances
Would have loved to have a snowboard in that bowl, if it weren't for the avalanches from up above...
Awesome shot...note Ian on the right
Had to give our feet some rest after the hike before packing up and heading eastward again
Taking a break as we head from valle frances to the last valley
While in between valleys, hiking by this lake was so gorgeous
Ok...maybe I was exaggerating just a bit for this picture
Nice view
The wind blew at just the right moment to make this picture look extra dramatic
Breaking by the lake
more condors way up!
The glacial beach was so nice we had to take a nice long break there.
Ian juggling like a pro
Dinner (rice with tuna) on the beach
Lots of long stream/waterfalls along the valleys
Turning north into the last valley on day 4 of 5 - hoping the weather would hold up so we could see the Torres
It didn't...
Cooking up some ramen for lunch on day 4
Most delicious ramen lunch I have ever had
Finally made it to our last campsite (night 4). It was located under the tree cover in the back of this pic. Weather was looking good, maybe we'd see the Torres after all!
5 minutes before we made it to the top, the snow came pouring down. See the torres in the background? Neither did we...damnit.
That's what we should have been seeing. Oh well, it's about the journey and not the destination, right?
It didn't seem like such a bad snowfall at this point...
long underwear bottom and top + long sleeve shirt + fleece + hat + sleeping bag and i was still cold through the night!
brutally cold, wet night - the snow didn't even seem too bad here, due to the canopy that protected us. Once we left though...
We saw just how much came down throughout the night!
That's our campsite
First ones out means we made fresh tracks - goodbye torres!
Making our way out of the valley
The shiny spot in the distance is the lodge where we catch the bus back to Prt.Natales. Just a few hours away at this point.
Boots went through a lot...but performed admirably!
Nothing like a nice beef+egg sandwich to recover from the hike!
Hot cocoa + Baileys to celebrate
Gotta love the hostel sense of humor
Back at Afrigonia drinking Pisco sours after the trek
