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Day 5: Hosteria El Puma
Early breakfast.
Optional today, medium difficulty trekking to Laguna de los Tres: The
way from El ChaltŽn to Poincenot camping site is repeated (4 h) and it
continues by crossing Blanco River. From here the track is about 400 m
upwards to De los Tres Lagoon. The track finishes in an old glacier
moraine edge with an extraordinary view of the lake and De los Tres
Glacier. This is the closest view of Fitz Roy Mount granitic wall and
its peripheral spires. By going down the moraine we can continue a path
that goes round the lagoon up to its mouth where we appreciate the
lonely Sucia Lagoon and its hanging glaciers. A good alternative for
extreme adventure lovers is to spend the night in Poincenot camping
site and start climbing very early, a few hours before sunrise. If it
is not cloudy, the very first minutes of the sunrise will leave an
unforgettable memory in our minds when the hills dye into a magical
reddish: one of the most beautiful natural shows to contemplate.
Viedma Glacier Sailing plus Icetrekking:
09:00 hr: we depart from Bah’a Tœnel Port to Viedma Glacier. At 15 km
northwards from El ChaltŽn we find the small Bah’a Tœnel port which is
located at a sheltered natural bay a few hundred metres away from the
delta that forms the homonymous river.
We sail the first 15 minutes in this sheltered bay southwards by a
modern ship HUEMUL (55 passengers). The lake depth allows a comfortable
sailing near the shore so that we can observe Fitz Roy Hill massif and
Huemul Hill from the ship. On arriving in Cabo de Hornos (south-eastern
end in Campo Ventisqueros), we turn westwards and suddenly, we have a
sensational view: Viedma Glacier. Only a 25-minute sailing is left to
arrive at the rocky promontory that emerges like a peninsula from the
glacier snout.
10:30 hr: we arrive and disembark at the rocky promontory opposite
Viedma Glacier. Once we have disembarked at the natural port,
passengers are invited to descend and start a short hike on a surface
left by the glacier some years ago. This area with an amusing view is
the proper place for the information talks on glaciers and glaciations
given by our highly-trained guide. Once the talk is over, another short
hike takes us to the glacier snout at its support place on the
promontory (ablation zone) where we can observe its erosive races and
visit the ice caves together with the guide; this is not very likely to
be seen and visited in the other big glaciers.
Then we arrive at the crampon place to put them on and start a 2-hour
trek on the homonymous glacier (optional).
14:15 hr: we depart from the promontory, have lunch (passengers pay for
the meal) and sail along the glacier snout in its breaking zone. Once
the excursion by land is finished, we embark again to sail opposite the
glacier snout (about 55 km high). From the ship we can observe a wide
range of blue colours (due to the different strong pressures the ice
undergoes on its descent to Viedma Lake by going through a natural
funnel created by Huemul and Mascarelo Hills).
15:30 hr: we arrive in Tœnel Bay. We return to El ChaltŽn and arrive
there at about 16:00 hr
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