There are some things that climbers and explorers dream of. We all read books and let our imaginations fly with those legends of the past who went places and saw new vistas for the first time. Some of us still want to emulate these first explorers and to follow in their footsteps and see if we are made of the same stuff as they were. In this case the early pioneers of this area date from 1913 when the Argentine scientific expedition of Frederico Reichert were the first to set foot on the icecap. In the 1930s the Salician priest Alberto De Agostino started a series of explorations that continued to occupy him for years. (One has to wonder if he was really looking for souls to save out here, or if it was just a good excuse to get out and to explore) . Later came the redoubtable Eric Shipton and Bill Tillman, the English climbers who traveled in the Himalaya and when that got too tame, retreated to the untamable wildness of Patagonia. For us we now have high tech clothing and hardware, but the climate remains the same.; the strongest winds in the world, and some of the worst weather anywhere. But when the weather clears this is a unique and special location. The largest icecap outside of the Antarctic and some of the worlds most fantastic peaks.

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We will venture into the incredible Cirque of the Altars where the granite spires of Cerro Torre, Torre Egger and Cerro Stanhardt reach their ice-encrusted heights into the sky. There are few words to describe the feeling of being in such a place. This is a place that man will be unable to tame and any trip here will remain a unique undertaking.

Itinerary: This outline is general since on an trip of this nature it is necessary to be flexible and to work with the dictates of being in a South American country where things just do not run the same way as one might be used to in the USA.

The trip is a twelve day itinerary which should give time to explore and climb, but everything depends upon the weather. Patagonia is known as the home of the wind , and bad weather is the norm and not the exception. But past experience has shown us that January often has spells of good weather and should give us the time to complete our itinerary.

Day 0 Arrive in El Calafate.

Day 1 First actual day of the trip. We will shuttle to El Chalten the dusty outpost below Fitzroy. Here we will continue to our basecamp at Piedra de Fraile, a small in holding of private land within Los Glacieres National Park.

Days 2 We will carry our first load up to the Passo Marconi at the edge of the icecap and return to Piedra del Fraile. This will involve a river crossing and carrying packs over glacial moraines and loose rock with no to little trail.

Days 3 Move camp up the Passo Marconi and prepare to travel out onto the icecap. This is a huge expanse of ice which we hope to find snow covered and so allowing us easy travel on snowshoes. In the distance is the remote Vulcan Lautoro and far off the Pacific Ocean.

Day 4 We will head south with the wind at our backs. To the west is the Cordon Marconi with jagged peaks encrusted in ice and rime mushrooms. We head past the end of the Cordon and set up camp near the Cirque of the Altars behind huge boulders and moraines.

Day 5 We hope for fine weather this day which will allow us to explore up into the cirque. These are some of the largest granite walls on earth and the ghostly ice towers and mushrooms lend them an other worldly appearance. It was from here that Italian Carlo Ferrarri accomplished the first ascent to the very summit of Cerro Torre.

Day 6 We continue southwards passing the Cordon Adela and probably pass out onto the bare ice of the Viedma Glacier.

Day 7 We leave the glacier and cross what will seem like endless moraine to the Passo Del Viento (Pass of the Winds). We cross this and descend a small glacier, circle around Lago Torro and reach the shelter of the beech forest.

Day 8 We return to Chalten. The hike is through lovely beech forest and open meadows with expansive views over Lago Viedma and the pampas that stretches to the Atlantic Ocean. Evening finds us back in Chalten relaxing with a well deserved dinner and fine Argentine wine.

Days 9-13 These are our in hand days for sitting out storms and waiting for clear weather.

Day 14 We return to the Argentine town of Calafate.

Day 15 Return home. (If you have to. If you want, stay longer).

Prerequisites: It will be ideal if you have done an SMC trip previously. Since this is an extended trip it is important that everyone gets along well and is compatible. If you have not done a trip with us before we will talk with you extensively On a trip of this nature it is a great advantage to have a cohesive team that gets along under adversity and enjoy it (well, at least sort of).

Notes
This si a very unique and esoteric undertaking, more akin to a polar adventure than a classic hike, even in places such as Alaska. The scale here is vast and patagonia is renowned as being the home of the wind that tear across the icecap. The weather can vary from bad to abysmal and a prolonged storm can shut us down totally. So keep this in mind when you venture here since a big part of the game is waiting for clear weather. Patience is the key. Luck plays a big part and all we can do is hope for a nice fine day. But when it does clear there is truly no place on earth that comes close to the stunning beauty of this area.