The most complete Patagonia hiking trip for those active travelers seeking for outdoor activities who come to Patagonia to enjoy an intense trek and wish to go one step beyond a moderate trek. We travel across the two National Parks which are Patagonia trekking paradises. At Torres del Paine National Park in Chile we trek its famous W Circuit. At Los Glaciares National Park we trek the Mt. Fitz Roy & Cerro Torre area near El Chalten, and as an impressive plus, we trek one day over the Torre Glacier and visit the Perito Moreno Glacier in Calafate. We use campsites to stay inside the National Parks, where we transport all the necessary equipment and 8 Kg / 16 lb of your personal luggage. You should be in good physical condition to trek on average seven hours a day at gentle pace and enjoy campsites. We do not go above 1500 meters/4920 ft. In fact it’s one of the outstanding points of this trip, you can trek wonderful mountain trails without having to reach high altitudes. Nevertheless, the strong winds which here and there appear in Patagonia during the summer months can make walking much more strenuous.
This is a regular trekking activity but with a minimum of 3 passengers.

Departures 2008/2009:

    20 days - 19 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 Airport (FTE).


Itinerary
Day 1: El Calafate Airport – El Calafate
We receive you at El Calafate Airport, and transfer to El Calafate town, where at 7 PM the group will have a meeting at Hostel del Glaciar Pioneros at Pioneros St. 251. You will meet our Guide, talk about the details of your trekking trip and enjoy your welcome dinner together with your travel partners.
Lodging at Hostel Room with private bathroom
Included meals: dinner (D)

Day 2: El Calafate - El Chalten
After breakfast we will transfer to El Chalten, a little and colorful town next to Mount Fitz Roy. We cross 220 km (190 km of gravel road) through the Patagonia steppe and we stop half way at a picturesque inn to enjoy his homemade cakes and hot coffee. While we approach, we get spectacular views of Viedma lake and glacier, and Mt. Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre mountain group. El Chalten is located on the edge of Los Glaciares National Park.
Lodging at Hostel Room with shared bathroom
Included meals : breakfast (B)

Day 3: Piedra del Fraile
Today we start our trek in the Los Glaciares National Park. A short transfer takes us to the Rio Electrico, where we start our trek through a beech forest to Piedra del Fraile. Leaving our packs here we continue trekking the Rio Electrico Valley for 2 hours and then ascending 1 hour to see the Mount Fitz Roy (3441 meters/11.289 ft) north face and Pollone glacier and to the viewpoints of the impressive Marconi Glacier, entrance to the Patagonia Ice field. From there we return to Piedra del Fraile Full Camp.
Lodging at Piedra del Fraile Full Camp in double tent (rural area - without showers)
Included meals : breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)

Day 4: Rio Blanco, De los Tres Lagoon
Today we follow the Rio Blanco valley hiking upriver to the lake of Piedras Blancas where we have an impressive view of the hanging Piedras Blancas Glacier. Further on, we get to Rio Blanco (Fitz Roy base camp for climbers in the east walls of the group) and in the afternoon, having left our packs at the campsite, we ascend the frontal moraine to De Los Tres Lagoon for a stunning view of Mount Fitz Roy, probably one of the most spectacular locations in the National Park and in Southern Patagonia. We hike down to Rio Blanco and to Laguna Capri..
Lodging at Laguna Capri Full Camp in double tent (rural area - without showers)
Included meals : breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)

Day 5: Madre e Hija Lagoon, Mount Torre
This morning we start trekking around Laguna Capri to get to the shore of Laguna Madre and Lagoon Hija and down to Fitz Roy river valley, where we meet Cerro Torre trail and we get to Cerro Torre Full Camp. The hiking trail runs along beech forest, bogs and shrub land. From the camp, a short hike takes us to Laguna Torre, enclosed by moraines and with the Glacier Grande calving in its west side. It is usual to see icebergs pushed by the wind in the coast of the lagoon. The thin and elegant 3128 mts (10.262 ft) of Cerro Torre group and the Adela range in the background complete this spectacular view. Mt. Torre with its needle shaped peak has always been a major challenge for the best world climbers, that come to Southern Patagonia to make a unique summit.
Lodging at Cerro Torre Full Camp in double tent(rural area - without showers).
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)

Day 6: Glacier Trek on the Torre Glacier
Today, if the weather allows it, we perform an impressive, exceptional trekking activity. You will walk and climb on the legendary Mount Torre Glacier, with its granite walls just behind you. All necessary equipment (rope, harness, crampons, ice-axes) and expert guidance are provided. In order to access the glacier we have to make a Tyrolean crossing of the Fitz Roy river. This is done by clipping a little seat onto a fixed rope over the river and pulling yourself, or being pulled, across. We walk on the moraine around the lagoon and then down to the glacier visiting crevices, ice caves and holes and all the interesting places that a glacier can show. The bonus is the close up views of Cerro Torre group spires. We hike back to our camp in the afternoon.
Lodging at Cerro Torre Full Camp in double tent (rural area - without showers).
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)

Day 7: Pliegue Tumbado, Toro Lagoon
Today we cross the Fitz Roy river using once again the Tyrolean traverse but now to hike up to Paso de las Agachonas, a 1300 mts pass on top of Pliegue Tumbado, which divides the Cerro Torre valley from the River Tunel valley. We trek through the forest, then we climb 700 meters (2300 ft) to the ridge which connects the summits of the Pliegue Tumbado. The landscape of the Fitz Roy group and the Rio Tunel Valley is breathtaking. From the pass we hike down to Laguna Toro.
Lodging at Laguna Toro Full Camp in double tent (rural area - without showers).
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)

Day 8: Paso del Viento
A full day hike from Laguna Toro to Paso del Viento (Pass of the Wind, 1550 meters/5085 ft) and back, across moraines, glacier and alpine meadows, with the fabulous Patagonia Ice Field view and the Mariano Moreno range inside it and many other mountains rarely seen by men. We get views of the Tunel Glacier and the river with the same name. The hike is demanding, done with a day pack, but a hugely rewarding trekking day. We trek approx. 9 Hs. round trip from Laguna Toro, to climb 800 mts from our camp to the Pass until return to the forest where we camp.
Lodging at Laguna Toro Full Camp in double tent (rural area - without showers).
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)

Day 9: Tunel River, El Chalten
We return trekking down to El Chalten, hiking on the Tunel river east shore following a trail along the Tunel river valley and up Pliegue Tumbado. On the ridge, we get again splendid views of most of the mountains and lakes of the area. We descend through forest in a gentle downhill, enjoying the panorama. We arrive to El Chalten in the evening.
Lodging at Hostel shared room & bathroom
Included meals: breakfast (B) and box lunch (BL)

Day 10: El Chalten – El Calafate
We stay freely this day at El Chalten, resting and enjoying the small town, the younger one in Southern Patagonia, until we travel by bus to El Calafate around 5 PM. It’s a 4 hour bus transfer and we arrive to have our dinner and to lodge at our hostel.
Lodging at Hostel room with private bathroom
Included meals: breakfast (B)

Day 11: 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 Cap, a big ice surface that with its 22.000 square kilometers 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 Patagonia steppe, watching a wide variety of birds.
Lodging at Hostel room with private bathroom
Included meals: breakfast (B)

Day 12: El Calafate - Torres del Paine
Early start for a 6 Hs. drive to our camp in Paine. We drive across the Patagonia steppe, still following by parts the legendary route 40, to get around Sierra de los Baguales, an impressive range in between Calafate and Paine. We cross the Argentinean Chilean border at Cancha Carrera/ Cerro Castillo. After the border crossing, we start our final sprint to Torres del Paine National Park, World Heritage by the UNESCO (United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization). Approaching the Park, we start to see the different mountains that feature the area: Paine Grande, the Horns, Admiral Nieto and the Towers. We enter the National Park by Porteria Laguna Amarga. A rich wildlife: guanacos, lesser rheas, condors and all types of wetland and buzzard birds, will be available for our eyes and cameras.
Lodging at Camping Las Torres Full Camp in double tent (with sanitary services)
Included meals : breakfast (B)

Day 13: Torres –Ascensio river Valley
This day is dedicated to one of the most classical and amazing trekking of Southern Patagonia: the trail towards the Paine Towers. After breakfast, starting from our camp we cross the Ascensio river through a hanging bridge and begin the ascent walk on the Almirante Nieto Mount path, hiking by the border of Ascencio river. We hike up a steep slope for one hour, to get inside the Ascensio river valley, a narrow “V” shape alpine valley coming from inside the Paine massif. After one hour hiking we go into the valley, until a gentle downhill leads us to Chileno Refuge, a cozy and comfortable mountain lodge. The trail slopes down into an impressive beech forest along the riverside where you get unforgettable landscapes. We reach Las Torres Base Camp where the mountaineers wait, sometimes for months, the appropriate weather conditions to climb the Torres. We take a final climb through the boulders of the moraine, it's one hour to reach the Las Towers viewpoint: an amazing natural amphitheater at the bottom of the vertical granite towers with a glacier-fed lagoon and the three towers rising vertically 1000 mts from the glacier and reaching 2800 meters height above sea level. The lack of breath will be either because the climb and the sight. We go back to our camp trekking on the same trail we came. Walking time: 7 to 8 Hs.
Lodging at Camping Las Torres Full Camp in double tent (with sanitary services)
Included meals : breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)

Day 14: Las Torres –Los Cuernos Refuge
Today we start hiking from Las Torres campsite the two days Nordenskjold crossing, that lead us to the Full Camp at Refugio Pehoe, with one night spent at Los Cuernos Refuge. The so called “Nordenskjöld lake traverse” or “Traverse of the Horns”. Before breakfast we prepare our backpack with only the belongings needed for the next two days traverse: some clothes, the box lunch, the camera and our sleeping bag. We pack the rest of the luggage that will be transfer by our bus to the Refugio Pehoe Full Camp, where we will find it again. We walk by the Nordenskjold lake north shore, at the foot of Admiral Nieto and the Horns. Three hours later we will be arriving to Los Cuernos Refuge.
Lodging at Los Cuernos Refuge with shared room and bathroom
Included meals : breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)

Day 15: Frances Valley – Pehoe Refuge
We start our trek early in the morning, walking to the Italian Camp, gate to the French valley, arriving two hours later at the start of Del Frances Valley. It’s a beautiful valley descending from the massif to the Nordenskjold Lake, outflanked by the imposing Mount Paine Grande, (3050 meters height) on the west side. We go trekking up the valley until the upper viewpoints, surrounded by the most impressive peaks of the massif at the entrance of a unique cirque surrounded by granite spires that feature the high valley: Hoja (Blade), Máscara (Mask), Espada (Sword), Catedral (Cathedral), Aleta de Tiburón (Shark Fin), the magnificent Fortaleza (The Fortress) and Paine Grande. The forest and the suspended Glaciers producing continuous ice and snow fallings give a spectacular frame to this walk. We return back to Italian camp, descending the valley until reach the Skottberg Lake and finally to lake Pehoe, arriving at our Full Camp at Refugio Pehoe at the end of the day, where our luggage will be waiting for us. We trek 9 Hs. this demanding day.
Lodging at Refugio Pehoe Full Camp in double tent (with sanitary services)
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)

Day 16: Grey Glacier Valley – Pehoe Refuge
Another unforgettable day dedicated to hike towards the Grey Glacier, impressive glacier with 300 square kilometers of surface (115 square miles) and 25 kilometers long (16 miles). It overflows from the Patagonia Ice Field falling into Grey Lake. The Glacier produces enormous amount of blue icebergs that sail over the lake pushed by the wind towards the south, given the characteristic feature to this Patagonia lake. Lake Grey trail leads from Pehoe Valley across ridges to reach Grey valley. The trail skirts the lake, going up and down the westerns slopes of Paine Grande, offering some of the most impressive sights of the Park, leading us to a wonderful viewpoint where we can appreciate the whole lake, the glacier and the mountains that emerge from the west of the Ice Field. From the high sections of the trail, many different viewpoints allow us to see the south end of the lake where the blue icebergs gather, the mountains rising far in the distance above glaciers Grey and Tyndall, and of course lake and glacier Grey. Two more hours walking and we arrive to another viewpoint just in front of the Glacier. All the trek is done between Andean bushes and lengas, the typical Southern Patagonia forest, at the shadow of the ice blocks that drape the Paine Grande Mount. We come back hiking along the same trail, crossing bogs, shrub lands and forest. At the end of the day we return to our Full Camp at Refugio Pehoe area. We walk this day about 8 Hs.
Lodging at Refugio Pehoe Full Camp in double tent (with sanitary services)
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)

Day 17: Pehoe Lake Navigation - Salto Grande - Camping Pehoe
We have breakfast later than usual to recover from the last two hiking days and spend the morning at leisure in our camp to get some relax. By noon, with our luggage packed, we cross Pehoe Lake on a boat towards Port Pudeto, where we continue a short drive to our Full Camp located at Camping Pehoe. After having lunch at the campsite we visit Salto Grande and walk a 45 minutes trail to get the Nordenskjold Lake beaches, where we have a wonderful view of Del Frances valley and the entire path we have walked the days before.
Lodging at Camping Pehoe Full Camp in double tent (with sanitary services)
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)

Day 18: Grey Lake - Camping Pehoe
We use this day to visit the west side of Torres del Paine National Park. We walk an easy trail by the Grey Lake south shore, plenty of icebergs, and ascending to the Ferrier viewpoint with wide landscapes over the entire Park.
Lodging at Camping Pehoe Full Camp in double tent (with sanitary services)
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)

Day 19: Torres del Paine – Puerto Natales - El Calafate
In the morning we start our land transfer from Torres del Paine crossing the border with Argentina through the Patagonia steppe back to El Calafate. We arrive to El Calafate where another person will be waiting for us and transfer us to the Hostel. The rest of the day is at your own to visit town.
Lodging at Hostel room with private bathroom
Included meals: breakfast (B)

Day 20: El Calafate - El Calafate Airport
After breakfast we transfer to El Calafate Airport where we end our Patagonia trip services.
Included meals: breakfast (B)

Price (u$d):

Included services: Bilingual (Spanish – English) tour leader, trekking/mountain guide, 4 nights hostel with private bathroom, 2 nights hostel with shared bathroom, 1 night mountain refuge, 12 nights full camping (igloo tents double base, dinner tents with table, benches and kitchenware, cooking tent), 19 breakfast (B), 14 box lunch (BL) and 14 dinners (D), all transfers in Patagonia and trekking activities, during the trip we combine private and regular buses, Perito Moreno Glacier Excursion, Pehoe Lake boat crossing navigation. More information

Not included services: international and domestic flights, airport taxes, transfers in Buenos Aires, nights in Buenos Aires, drinks, foods not detailed, tickets entrance to 2 National Parks (5/10 u$d ea.), Lago Argentino Navigation, medical covering, tips, services not detailed in the program. More information

List of suggested personal equipment:
• Backpack, 60 /70 lts
• Sleeping bag, down or synthetic, for -10ºC
• Sleeping mattress (therm-a-rest type)
• Trekking shoes or boots
• Thermal underwear
• Trekking pants
• Fleece
• Breathable parka and over pants
• Gaiters
• Gloves
• Thermal socks
• The necessary spare cloth
• Wool hat
• Sun hat
• Sun glasses
• Sun screen (UV is very strong during the southern spring, from September to December)
• Personal items
• Lamp
• Trekking poles (recommended, if you are used to them)
• Water bottle
• Photo camera & batteries
• Personal medication
• Personal documents (passport, visa if needed) to cross the Argentina - Chile border.
• Garbage bags (we Leave No Trace)

Weather in Patagonia is unpredictable. Not very cold, but it is usually windy. The best advice is to dress in the classic 4 mountaineering layers.