Destination content © Wayne Bernhardson, used from Moon Handbooks Argentina, 1st Edition.
Maps © Avalon Publishing Group, Inc.
PARQUE NACIONAL LOS GLACIARES
On the eastern slope of the Andes, Parque Nacional Los Glaciares comprises more than 759,000 hectares of slowly flowing ice, interspersed with Magellanic forests that gives birth to clear, frigid rivers, and vast lakes along the Chilean border east and north of El Calafate. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it’s most famous for the Glaciar Moreno, which draws thousands of relatively sedentary visitors on day trips from El Calafate but also pulls in international scientists absorbed in glaciology and climate studies. The northerly sector—a five-hour bus trip from El Calafate—attracts those seeking to spend several days in vigorous exercise, either trekking or the far more demanding and dangerous technical climbing for which the area is well-known. The park’s wildlife includes the endangered Andean huemul.
Geography and Climate
When the Campo de Hielo Sur receded at the end of the Pleistocene, it left behind the two huge glacial troughs that are now Lago Argentino and, to the north, the roughly parallel Lago Viedma. While these lakes are only about 250 meters above sea level, the Andean summits along the Chilean border rise to 3,375 meters on Cerro Fitz Roy and nearly as high on pinnacles like 3,102-meter Cerro Torre, which matches the Torres del Paine for sheer majesty.
Most of these bodies of water lie outside the park boundaries, but the eastern Andean slopes still contain their remnants, some of the world’s most impressive and accessible glaciers. Thirteen major glaciers flow toward the Argentine side, including the benchmark Glaciar Moreno; ice covers 30 percent of the park’s surface.
Despite the abundance of snow and ice, the Argentine side of the cordillera is substantially drier than the Chilean, receiving only about 400 millimeters of precipitation on the eastern steppe, rising to about 900 millimeters at higher elevations to the west, where the terrain is forested. The warmest month is February, with an average maximum temperature of 22°C and a minimum of 9°C, while the coolest month is August, when the maximum averages only 5°C and the minimum -1°C. Like the rest of Patagonia, it often receives ferocious winds, which are strongest in spring and summer.
Flora and Fauna
Where rainfall is insufficient to support anything other than coirón grasses and thorny shrubs like the calafate (Berberis buxifolia) that gave the nearby town its name, the guanaco grazes the Patagonian steppe. Foxes and Patagonian skunks are also conspicuous, the flightless rhea, or ñandú, scampers across the open country, the bandurria, or buff-necked ibis (Theristicus caudatus), hunts invertebrates, and flocks of upland geese (Chloephaga picta) browse the wetter areas along the lakeshores. The Andean condor soars above the plains and even the highest peaks, but occasionally lands to feast on carrion.
In the forests, the predominant tree species are the lenga (Nothofagus pumilio) and the coigue (Nothofagus betuloides, also known here as guindo. The puma still prowls the forest, while the huemul and perhaps the pudú survive in the vicinity of Lago Viedma. Squawking flocks of austral parakeets (Enicognathus ferruginaeus) flit between trees, and the Patagonian woodpecker (Campephilus magellanicus) pounds on their trunks. Perching calmly, awaiting nightfall, the austral pygmy owl (Glaucidium nanum) is a common sight in the late afternoon.
Along the lakeshores and riverbanks, aquatic birds like coots and ducks are abundant. The most picturesque is the Patagonian torrent duck (Merganetta armata), which dives for prey in the rushing creeks.
Glaciar Perito Moreno
Where a low pass in the Andes lets Pacific storms cross the cordillera, countless storms have deposited hundreds of meters of snow that, over the millennia, have compressed into the Moreno Glacier, the flowing river of ice that’s one of the continent’s greatest sights. Fifteen times during the late 20th century, the advancing glacier blocked the Brazo Rico (Rico Arm) of Lago Argentino to form a rising body of water that eventually, when the water’s weight became too much for the natural dam, triggered an eruption of ice and water toward the lake’s main glacial trough.
In March 2004, before more than 2,000 eager spectators who had camped with their cameras at the ready, the dammed glacier erupted for the first time since 1988—though the event was smaller than previous instances. It will be several years more before any reoccurence, but in the interim, massive icebergs will continue to calve off the glacier’s 60-meter face and crash into the Canal de los Témpanos (Iceberg Channel) with astonishing frequency. Perched on catwalks and overlooks, many visitors spend entire days either gazing at, or, eyes closed, simply listening to, this awesome river of ice as it rumbles forward. Descending to lake level is prohibited because of the danger of backwash and flying chunks of ice; it’s possible, though, to contract a full-day “minitrekking” excursion onto the ice for about US$64 pp with Hielo y Aventura (Avenida Libertador 935, El Calafate, tel. 02902/492205 or 492094, fax 02902/491053, www.losglaciares.com/hieloyaventura). Hielo y Aventura also does one-hour boat excursions on the lake, approaching the glacier’s face, for US$9 pp.
Only seven kilometers east of the glacier, Camping Bahía Escondida (tel. 02902/491005) charges US$3.50 pp for 30 sites with running water and firepits; there are hot showers 7–10 p.m. only and electricity 8 p.m.–midnight only. Backpackers can camp free at the Seccional de Guardaparques, the ranger station at the glacier itself, for a maximum of two nights.
The only accommodation close to the glacier itself, m Hostería Los Notros (tel. 02902/499510, fax 02902/499511 in El Calafate, US$189–274 s or d) rivals Torres del Paine’s Hotel Explora in the “room-with-a-view” category; its 32 rooms all face the ice. Reservations are essential here, and multiday packages with full board and excursions included are the rule rather than the exception. For more details contact Hostería Los Notros in Buenos Aires (Arenales 1457, 7th floor, Buenos Aires, tel. 011/4814-3934, fax 011/4815-7645, info@losnotros.com, www.losnotros.com).
Near the glacier, the Unidad Turística Ventisquero Moreno operates both a snack bar (sandwiches for US$2–3.50, plus coffee and desserts) and a separate restaurant with set meals for US$7–12 pp; there is also an à la carte menu.
The Moreno Glacier is 80 kilometers southwest of El Calafate via RP 11; the trip takes somewhat more than an hour. Both Interlagos and Taqsa, at the El Calafate bus terminal, have scheduled bus services at 9 a.m. daily (US$17 round-trip), returning in the afternoon.
In addition to these regularly scheduled services, guided bus tours are frequent, but both are less frequent in winter; for suggested operators, see the Vicinity of El Calafate section. El Calafate’s Albergue del Glaciar runs its own minivan excursions, leaving about 8:30 a.m. and returning about 5 p.m., for US$25 pp, including the navigation in front of the glacier.
Glaciar Upsala
Even larger than Glaciar Perito Moreno, 50 kilometers long and 10 kilometers wide at its foot, Glaciar Upsala is accessible only by crowded catamaran excursions from Puerto Bandera via Lago Argentino’s Brazo Norte (North Arm). Impressive for its sheer extent, the size of the bergs that have calved off it, and their shapes and colors, it’s the trip’s outstanding sight.
At midday, the boat anchors at Bahía Onelli, but bring a bag lunch (skipping the restaurant) to walk to ice-clogged Lago Onelli. The land portion of this excursion is highly regimented, and the pace the guides suggest—30 minutes from the dock to the shores of Onelli—are appropriate for those on crutches. Smoking is prohibited on the forest trail.
Travelers should realize that this is a mass tourism excursion that may frustrate hikers accustomed to the freedom of the hills. If you take it, choose the biggest available ship, which offers the greatest deck space to see the Spegazzini and Upsala Glaciers. On board, the freshest air is within the cabin of the ALM, whose seats are cramped but where smoking is prohibited. Reasonably priced cakes, sandwiches, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate are available on board.
Puerto Bandera is 45 kilometers west of Calafate via RP 11 and RP 8. For information and reservations, contact concessionaire René Fernández Campbell (Avenida Libertador 867, El Calafate, tel. 2902/491155, 491428, fax 491154, rfcino@cotecal.com.ar). The full-day trip costs about US$53 pp; the fare does not include transportation from El Calafate (about US$4 pp round-trip) to Puerto Bandera or the obligatory US$7 park admission fee for nonresidents of Argentina.
Lago Roca
Less visited than other parts of the park, the southwesterly sector also known as La Jerónima, along the Brazo Sur (South Arm) of Lago Roca, offers camping and cross-country hiking—there are no formal trails, only routes like the one up the summit of Cerro Cristal from the campground, 55 kilometers from El Calafate. The most striking characteristic of the landscape, though, is the conspicuously high, but now dry, shoreline from the days when the lake backed up behind the advancing Moreno Glacier. Unlike other sectors of the park, this one charges no admission fee.
At La Jerónima, Camping Lago Roca (tel. 2902/499500) charges US$3 pp for adults, US1.50 pp for children, and also has four-bed cabañas for US$18. Hot showers are available, and its restaurant/confitería serves decent meals.
At the terminus of RP 15, 56 kilometers southwest of El Calafate, m Estancia Nibepo Aike (Perito Moreno 229, Río Gallegos, tel./fax 02966/436010, nibepo@ciudad.com.ar, www.nibepoaike.com.ar, US$75/84 s/d with breakfast, US$98/138 s/d with full board) is a Croatian-founded ranch whose former casco preserves its original rustic style but is now a five-room guesthouse with contemporary conveniences—all rooms have private bath, for instance. Open October 1 to April 30, it also has a newer Quincho Don Juan for day-trippers to lunch or dine, though overnight guests may eat in the restaurant rather than the main house’s dining room if they wish.
Sector Fitz Roy
In the park’s most northerly sector, the Fitz Roy Range has sheer vertical spires to match Torres del Paine, but even if you’re not one of the world’s top 10 technical climbers, the several trails from the village of El Chaltén to the base of summits like Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre make some of the Southern Hemisphere’s most enthralling hiking. There are even opportunities for crossing the southern Patagonian icefields, but visitors looking for a more sedate outdoor experience will find a handful of former sheep estancias, onetime Patagonian wool producers that have reinvented themselves as tourist accommodations.
From a signposted trailhead at the north end of El Chaltén, just south of the basic Camping Madsen, the Sendero Laguna Torre is an 11-kilometer track that gains only about 200 meters in elevation as it winds through southern beech forests to the climbers’ base camp for Cerro Torre; figure about three to 3.5 hours. At the lake itself, in clear weather, there are extraordinary views of the 3,102-meter summit of Cerro Torre, crowned by the so-called “mushroom” of snow and ice that technical climbers must surmount. While the Italian Cesare Maestri claimed that he and the Austrian Toni Egger reached the summit in 1959 (Egger died in an avalanche and took the expedition’s camera with him), the first undisputed ascent was by the Italian Casimiro Ferrari in 1974.
From the Madsen pack station, the more demanding Sendero Río Blanco rises steeply at the outset before leveling out through boggy beech forest and continuing to the Cerro Fitz Roy base camp, a total climb of about 350 meters in 10 kilometers. About midway to Río Blanco, a signed lateral leads south to Laguna Capri, where there are backcountry campsites but campfires are not permitted.
From Río Blanco, the vertiginous zigzag trail ascends 400 meters in only 2.5 kilometers to Laguna de los Tres, a glacial tarn whose name commemorates three members of the French expedition, René Ferlet, Lionel Terray, and Guido Magnone, who reached Fitz Roy’s summit in 1952. Truly a top-of-the-world experience, Laguna de los Tres offers some of Patagonia’s finest Andean panoramas.
From the Río Blanco campground (reserved for climbers only), a northbound trail follows the river’s west bank north to Laguna Piedras Blancas, whose namesake glacier continually calves icebergs into the lake. The trail continues north to the Río Eléctrico, beyond the park boundaries, where a westbound trail climbs the river to Piedra del Fraile and a possible circuit of the Campo de Hielo Sur, suitable only for experienced snow-and-ice trekkers. At the Río Eléctrico, it’s also possible to rejoin the road from El Chaltén to Laguna del Desierto.
Accommodations, services, and other practicalities in the northern sector of the park are covered in the following El Chaltén section.
Glaciar Viedma
From Puerto Bahía Túnel on Lago Viedma’s north shore but south of El Chaltén, the park’s best lake excursion is the catamaran Viedma Discovery’s voyage to the face of the Viedma glacier, a full-day trip that includes an ice-climbing exploration of the glacier itself.
Sailing from Bahía Túnel, the ship rounds the ironically named Cabo de Hornos (“Cape Horn”) and enters an iceberg-cluttered section of the lake (though Viedma’s lakeside face is small, it’s Argentina’s largest glacier) before anchoring in a rocky cove. After disembarking, visitors hike to an overlook of the glacier and 2,677-meter Cerro Huemul; those who wish can strap on crampons and continue with the guides onto the glacier for about 1.5 hours (even some pretty sedentary porteños do so).
The guides themselves are well-versed in glaciology, speak both Spanish and English, and provide much more personalized service than the Fernández Campbell excursion from Puerto Bandera. While the excursion price here does not include lunch, it does include an aperitif on the glacial rocks.
On Lago Viedma’s secluded south shore, open mid-October to mid-April, m Hostería Helsingfors (San Martín 516, Río Gallegos, tel. 02966/420719; Avenida Córdoba 827, 11° A, C1054AAH Buenos Aires, tel. 011/4315-1222, info@helsingfors.com.ar, www.helsingfors.com.ar) was one of the area’s first estancias, and also one of the first to open its door to tourists. Room rates are US$195/350 s/d with full board, excursions, and transportation from El Calafate (including the airport). Children under age eight pay half.
Restaurante Bahía Túnel is a good breakfast choice, with exceptional picture-window views across the lake, and also serves lunch, afternoon tea, and an especially good sunset dinner.
Departure time from El Chaltén is 8:30 a.m., while the boat sails from Bahía Túnel at 9 a.m.; the cost is US$45 pp plus US$6.50 pp for transportation from El Chaltén for those who need it. For more information, contact Patagonia Aventura, (Güemes s/n, tel. 02962/493110, fax 02962/493017, El Chaltén).
Lago del Desierto
Elongated Lago del Desierto, 37 kilometers north of El Chaltén, is a scenic end-of-the-road destination with several worthwhile hiking trails, boat excursions, and even a challenging border crossing to the remote Chilean settlement of Villa O’Higgins.
From the south end of the lake, a short trail winds west through dense southern beech forest to a vista point and the hanging glacier at Laguna Huemul, while a longer route follows the eastern shore to the border, a 20-kilometer trek over relatively easy terrain. In 2002, more than 200 people crossed the Argentine-Chilean border in a place that was once such a bone of contention between Chile and Argentina that, decades ago, a Chilean Carabinero even lost his life in a firefight with Argentine soldiers.
Despite objections by a handful of extreme Chilean nationalists, the matter is resolved, the border is peaceable, and determined hikers or mountain bikers can readily cross to Villa O’Higgins. Before attempting the route, though, clear it with the Argentine Gendarmería (Border Patrol) in El Chaltén, and make arrangements to be picked up at Lago O’Higgins on the Chilean side by contacting the Carabineros (tel. 0056-67/215167) and Antonio Vidal (tel. 0056-67/234813), operator of the Chilean ferry El Pirincho.
North of El Chaltén, in an out-of-the-way location on the road to Lago del Desierto, m Hostería El Pilar (tel./fax 02962/493002, hosteriaelpilar@infovia.com.ar, www.hosteriaelpilar.com.ar, US$91/111 s/d) has the classic style of a Patagonian casco, but it’s really a recent construction (1996). Room reservations are a must for this cozy, popular place (it’s open October to April), but it’s possible to eat in the restaurant without.
From El Chaltén, Mermoz (San Martín s/n, tel. 02962/493098) minibuses go to Lago del Desierto (US$9 round-trip pp) at 9:30 a.m. daily, returning at 4:30 p.m. Hitching is feasible but vehicles are few and often full. At the lake itself, the launches Viedma 1 and La Mariana take passengers to the north end for US$12.50 pp.
Tour Operators
At El Chaltén, it’s possible to arrange a one-day trek and ice climb on Glaciar Torre (US$35 pp) with Fitzroy Expediciones (Lionel Terray 212, tel./fax 02962/493017, fitzroy@infovia.com.ar), which also offers lengthier guided hikes—nine-day expeditions, really—on the Campo de Hielo Sur, the Southern Continental Ice Field. Camino Abierto (tel. 02962/493043), Alta Montaña (Lionel Terray s/n, tel. 02962/493018), and Viviendo Montañas (Güemes 68, tel. 02962/493068, info@vivmont.com.ar) also conduct expeditions onto the great icefields.
NYCA Adventure (San Martín 591, tel. 02962/493093, www.nyca.com.ar) offers half-day excursions including activities like climbing, hiking, mountain biking, rafting, and rappelling. Lago San Martín (Riquelme and Rojo, tel. 02962/493045, lagosanmartin@videodata.com.ar) arranges excursions to and from Lago San Martín, across the mountains to the northeast.
Equipment
Just north of Albergue Rancho Grande, Viento Oeste (San Martín s/n tel. 02962/493021, vientooeste@infovia.com.ar) rents and sells climbing, camping, and wet-weather gear.
Information
At the Río Mitre entrance to the park, the main approach for the Moreno Glacier, the Administración de Parques Nacionales (APN) collects a US$7 park admission fee for nonresidents of Argentina. At present, there is no fee collected at either the Lago Roca or at El Chaltén Sectors.
At El Chaltén, just before the Río Fitz Roy bridge at the approach to town, the APN (tel. 02962/493004, 8 a.m.–8 p.m. daily) offers information in both Spanish and English, and issues climbing permits (free of charge).
Hikers may want to consult Tim Burford’s Chile and Argentina: The Bradt Trekking Guide (Bradt Travel Guides, 2001), and Clem Lindenmayer and Nick Tapp’s Trekking in the Patagonian Andes (Lonely Planet, 2003); the latter has better maps. There is also the new edition of Miguel A. Alonso’s locally available, bilingual Trekking en Chaltén y Lago del Desierto (Los Glaciares Publishers, 2003), which covers numerous hikes in the vicinity. Alonso has also written Lago Argentino & Glaciar Perito Moreno Handbook (Buenos Aires: Zagier & Urruty, 1997), a more general guide to the park that’s available in English, Italian, German, and French.
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