Glacier Trekking in a challenging traverse of Southern Patagonia Ice Cap, hike crossing from Paso Marconi to Paso del Viento

An extremely intense and unforgettable expedition to trek over the Southern Patagonia Continental Ice Field, third glacier area in the World after Antarctica and Greenland. We enter the Icefield trekking through Paso Marconi and hiking southbound through the Western face of Mount Fitz Roy towards the legendary Cerro Torre west face and the Moreno Chain to the East, to enjoy the majestic of “Circo de los Altares”. We exit the Icefield through Paso del Viento and get back into Chaltén along the river Tunel valley. During this trek you will see the Lautaro volcano, the “hidden volcano”, according to the british explorer Eric Shipton, the Mariano Moreno range and many more mountains. This traverse expedition includes 4 nights camping expedition style over the ice cap. You do not need to have previous technical experience in the use of the equipment like snowshoes or crampons. It is necessary, however, a previous experience in trekking and camping and a very good physical condition to be able to enjoy the adventure and get the most of your trek. The equipment and the foods will be appropriate for this type of trip. The reserved days will be use in bad climate conditions case (inside the ice cap camp). If the climate conditions are really good, the reserved days will be used to enjoy each part of the Ice Field crossing or to freely trek later at El Chalten area.

Departures 2011/2012:

      12 days - 11 nights

      Season: October to April

      Starts at: El Calafate Airport (FTE). The Meeting Point for the Group on Day 1 is 7 PM at El Calafate.

      Ends at: El Calafate.


Itinerary
Day 1: El Calafate Airport (FTE) - El Calafate
We welcome you at Calafate airport and transfer to town to check in at your hostel. You get the rest of the day to enjoy the town and later you have your welcome dinner together with your fellow trekkers.
Lodging at Hostel double or triple room with private bathroom.
Included meals : dinner (D)

Day 2: El Calafate - Perito Moreno Glacier
We dedicate this day to one of the World’s Natural Wonders: the Perito Moreno glacier. After breakfast we travel by bus, on a road that allows us to go through the folds left on the steppe by the glaciers, to the Magallanes peninsula where the southern entrance of Los Glaciares National Park is located. Its major attraction is the Perito Moreno Glacier which, because of unusually favorable local conditions, is one of the world’s few advancing glaciers. This ice field-type glacier flows down from the Patagonia Ice Field, a big ice surface that with its 22.000 square kilometres is the third largest glacier area in the world, after Antarctica (14 M sq km) and Greenland (1 M sq km). The Perito Moreno Glacier is the only one in the world that shows a closure and rupture process. Huge icebergs from the glacier wall collapse into the De los Tempanos Channel. The roar of the gigantic ice rocks falling and crashing into the waters of the channel is a unique experience. Our bus will lead us just in front of the Glacier, allowing us to walk and view the Glacier from different viewpoints. We return to El Calafate using a different route. We will drive 80 km (1 and a half hour) to get and then again to come back from the glacier across the steppe, watching a wide variety of birds.
Lodging at Hostel room double or triple with private bathroom
Included meals: breakfast (B)

Day 3: El Calafate - El Chalten
After breakfast we travel by bus to El Chalten, a little and colorful town next to Mount Fitz Roy. To arrive to El Chalten we will cross 220 km (190 km of gravel road) through the Patagonia steppe, stopping at half way, where a picturesque inn is located, to enjoy homemade cakes and hot coffee. While approaching Chalten, the views of both Mt. Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre massifs, glacier Viedma and the mountains of the Ice Field are spectacular. In the afternoon, we meet the Expedition guide. He gives us a short speech about the Ice Cap and details of the trekking program. We provide the technical equipment and the guide and assistant will explain how to use it. Finally we prepare our packs for the next day.
Lodging at Hostel shared room & bathroom
Included meals : breakfast (B) and dinner (D)

Day 4: Foot of the Marconi Glacier
Today we start our trek, driving north and then west for 15 km. Once in River Electrico, we hike up the valley and after a couple of hours we leave behind the forest which is replaced by rocks eroded and polished by the action of the glacier many hundred years ago. We go around lake Electrico, get good views on Mt. Fitz Roy north face and we camp at the foot of Marconi glacier. Total approx. 5 hours trekking, altitude gain 300 meters.
Lodging in Expedition campsite
Included meals : breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)

Day 5: Paso Marconi
This is a key day, as it is demanding and we depend on the weather conditions. We hike up glacier Marconi up to the Paso (Pass) Marconi (1500 mts above sea level). According to conditions, in some moment of this day we will use our crampons first to trek over the ice, we will use ropes according to the glacier conditions and our snowshoes later. Hiking up valley, we will first meet the Pier Giorgio glacier valley flowing into the Marconi glacier valley, and then an notorious change of steepness lead us to the pass itself. From Paso Marconi, an incredible view of the Paso de los Cinco Glaciares (the Five Glaciers Pass), Lautaro volcano, Cerro Gorra Blanca and an Antarctic type landscape. Total approx. 6–7 hours trekking. We climb 800 meters approx.
Lodging in Expedition campsite over the Patagonia Ice Cap
Included meals : breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)

Day 6: Circo de los Altares
We hike on the Ice Field southbound towards the Circo de los Altares and the legendary Cerro Torre west face. We walk west of the Marconi range with its typical snow mushrooms topping the summit, with permanent view to the Mariano Moreno range towards west. Very likely we use our snowshoes today. Total approx. 6 hours trekking, no up hill today.
Lodging in Expedition campsite over the Patagonia Ice Cap
Included meals : breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)

Day 7: Circo de los Altares
We use this day, weather depending, to visit with only a day pack the Circo de los Altares, to get close-up views of the west faces of Cerro Torre group. These ice covered walls are probably one of the most serious alpine challenges in Patagonia.
Lodging in Expedition campsite over the Patagonia Ice Cap
Included meals : breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)

Day 8: Laguna de los Esquíes
We continue south towards Laguna de los Esquíes, which is the exit door to the Ice cap. It is located on a lateral moraine of glacier Viedma. If the weather condition is very awfull, we have the chance of continue 1 and a half more hour to the Paso del Viento hut/refuge for protection. Total trekking approx. 7 hours, no up hill.
Lodging in Expedition campsite over the Patagonia Ice Cap
Included meals : breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)

Day 9: Laguna Toro
From our camp we climb up to Paso del Viento (Wind Pass) at 1550 mts and give a final and spectacular look to the Ice Field, the Mariano Moreno range and glacier Viedma. We hike down into the upper river Tunel valley, across alpine meadows rich in alpine flowers. These flowers are the real welcome after days of only rock and ice. We cross the glacier Tunel and after crossing river Tunel with a tyrolean (horizontal fixed rope attached to both sides of the river) we get to our camp at Laguna Toro. Total approx. 6-7 hours trekking.
Lodging in Expedition campsite
Included meals : breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)

Day 10: Pliegue Tumbado - El Chalten
This day features the end of our traverse, we walk on the river Tunel valley, wading a couple of streams. We climb up and down Pliegue Tumbado, a gentle slope to spend our last energies, and our final downhill inside the forest lead us to the River de las Vueltas valley and to El Chaltén. From the watershed between the 2 valleys we have still spectacular views of Cerro Fitz Roy, Torre, Grande, Huemul and Paso del Viento. Total approx. 6 hours trekking.
Lodging at Hostel shared room & bathroom
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)

Day 11/12: Spare days
Reserved days to use in case of bad weather conditions. We retain the right to change the itinerary or to suspend some of the activities when some climatic cause or other cause of any other nature justifies it in favor of the security of each member of the group. Please note that being an Expedition more than a classic hiking, the possibility of completing the cross of the Ice Cap is similar to the possibilities you have when attempting to summit a peak: if the weather is too bad you go back to the base and try it later.
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)

Day 13 - El Calafate airport
After breakfast transfer to Calafate. End of the Expedition.
Included meals: breakfast (B)

Price (u$d):

Lodging type	Departure Month
	[ Oct - Feb - Mar - Apr ]	[ Nov - Dec - Jan ]
Hostel, shared	2602	2732

List of Equipment and Clothes you should bring
• Backpack 80/90 litres capacity,
• Sleeping bag, duvet or synthetic, for -20ºC,
• Sleeping pad (therm-a-rest type recommended),
• Double plastic mountaneering boots (type Koflach, Asolo, Scarpa, Boreal, etc.) or waterproof leather mountaneering boots (where you can attach crampons),
• Thermal underwear: Interior synthetic clothes (polipropilene, lifa o capilene): 1 long-sleeved shirt, 1 long pant,
• 1 cotton t-shirt,
• 1 pant of polar fiber,
• 1 trekking pant,
• 1 polar fiber jacket or coat,
• Goretex jacket with hood or similar (parka),
• Goretex shell pants with full-length sided zippers,
• 1 pair of gaiters,
• 2 pairs of wool or synthetic mittens,
• waterproof mitten shells (goretex or similar),
• 1 pair of thin synthetic (thermal) gloves,
• 2 pairs of thick synthetic socks, polar fiber or wool,
• 2 pairs of synthetic liner thin socks,
• Ski sticks or trekking poles, better if telescopic type,
• Thin scarf or handkerchief for your neck,
• Balaclava of wool or polar fiber,
• Cap of wool or polar fiber ,
• Sunglasses with UV filter for high solar radiation,
• Snow goggles / sun glasses with UV protection,
• Sun protector creme for skin (factor 30) and for lips (balm), UV radiation is very strong
• Thermo or plastic water bottle,
• Wide adhesive tape (cloth athletic),
• Personal hygiene kit, elements reduced to minimum necessity,
• Swiss Army knife, Victorinox or similar,
• Headlamp (miners type, like Petzl) with batteries.
• Personal medication.

The snowshoes, crampons, harness, snap links and ropes added to the general camp equipment like tents, heaters, pans, tableware, snow shovels and sledges are provided by us. We will carry all the general equipment for the Expedition, (tents, food, gas, ropes, sleds, snow shovels, first aid kit). You will carry your own personal equipment (backpack, spare clothes, sleeping bag and insulating mattress, personal items) and also carry the personal technical equipment provided by us: crampons, snowshoes, harnesses and the box lunch for that day. This is necessary not only to spread the weight but also to have it handy when you need it. The luggage that you do not take with you in the ice trekking stays at El Chaltén in our office. When this Expedition is organized as a private group, out of our regular departures, we offer you the possibility of hiring porters to carry up to a maximum of 8 kg per pax.

Note: At El Chalten or at El Calafate you may rent the mountain equipment, like the mountaineering boots. However, beware there is a limited and incomplete stock.

Included services: Bilingual (Spanish – English) experienced trekking/mountain guides qualified by the Mountain Guides Association of Argentina and licensed by National Parks Authority, tents, campsite & cooking equipment (light, utensils, etc.), ice equipment provision (snowshoes, crampons, ice peaks, harnesses, ropes, etc.), the necessary security equipment, first aid kit, 12 breakfasts (B), 9 box lunch (BL) and 11 dinners (D), 12 nights lodging as shown in the itinerary (Expedition Camp over Ice Field, hostel at Calafate & Chalten), Perito Moreno Glacier Excursion, all transfers in Patagonia (combined private & regular buses).

Not included: international and domestic flights, airport taxes, transfers in Buenos Aires, nights in Buenos Aires, drinks, foods not detailed, ticket entrance to 1 National Park (5/10 u$d), Lago Argentino Navigation, medical covering, tips, services not detailed in the program. More information