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There are a few places in the world as wild and untamed as Patagonia, and few
trips that can give you as complete an overview of that beauty as this one. We
have made this trip even better with the addition of a visit to Ushuaia. We begin
with a flight from Buenos Aires to Calafate, followed by an overland drive across
the pampas of Argentina to our hosteria in Paine National Park, Chile. Our first
full day here is spent on a leisurely hike face-to-face with the Horns of Paine,
which have that rare combination of grace and rugged grandeur found in very few
other mountains in the world. Just as the Torres (Towers) are more rugged than
the neighboring Horns, so too is our hike to their feet. Our efforts are well
rewarded, however, by our visit to the iceberg-filled glacial lake which sits
in the cirque formed by the sheer Towers.
We then cross back into Argentina and drive to Chalten, set at the feet of the other famous mountains of Patagonia: Monte FitzRoy and Cerro Torre. One full day is devoted to getting in close to each of these magnificent granite spires, with a third day to do a hike to a high lookout point where we can take in the entire massif.
Our exploration of these two massifs complete, we drive around Lago Viedma to our next stop, Estancia Helsingfors, sited on the southwest corner of Lago Viedma, tucked on a tiny spit of land between the lake and the Andes which rise abruptly from its back yard. Its location gives us immediate access to some of the wildest, most puma-inhabited mountains in Patagonia. Our hike here is to Laguna Azul, a small lake that sits atop the mountains looming over Helsingfors. The return trip is along the lake's outlet, the Rio Milodon, to Helsingfors neighboring estancia, Los Hermanos. Our next stop is the El Calafate area, where we will make a non-technical ascent of Cerro Buenos Aires. From the top we can see the glacier below us, Torres del Paine beyond the glacier, and Monte FitzRoy presiding over this mountain kingdom. We then drive back to Calafate for the flight to Ushuaia, our final destination and a fitting finale for such an adventure. Our hike here will take us into Tierra del Fuego National Park and we will enjoy an excursion by boat on the Beagle Channel to explore Estancia Harberton, the first estancia established in the region. Our stay here complete, we fly to Buenos Aires to connect with our flight home.
Grade: Easy-to-moderate
Land Cost:
$3,800 (11-15 members)
$4,100 (6-10 members)
$4,450 (3-5 members)
Single Supplement: $600
Himalaya Europe The Americas
Questions? Need Itineraries? Above the Clouds Home Page
Questions? Need Itineraries?
Above the Clouds
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