Mount Fitz Roy

A reasonable start saw us with what can only be described as exceptional weather, with 11km each way to do we set a good pace and were graced by the beauty of the giants ahead of us.

Leaving camp, the rock on the right looking like a Lions head at the peak.

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The first view point

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The valley all the way up offering stunning picturesque scenery

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One creek crossing

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Making it to the lake was another WOW, massive hanging basins, glaciers, a lake and massive spires to go…..wicked.

Up in the snow

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Lunch was the go at what can be noted as one of the coolest lunch spots we have ever had on the entire trip.

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The funny thing was we had riot gear for wind and freezing conditions …..a waste of time carting it up for our one out of the box day, very unusual to have such calm weather here so we made the absolute most of it spending nearly 2 hours taking in the stage of beauty in front of us.

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The part that I hate, the return down hill section with the first km being a killer drop it was not promising to be good for me so we took it quietly until we hit the more level ground to preserve my poor old knees.

All in all an outstanding day of epic rewards in the scenery category and two very happy campers.

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The monsters in full

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On our way back down Ellen wanted to cool her feet off ...mine were fine

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The final part of this walk was Lago Capri, a nice spot it was too.

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That night Paul from Holland arrived on a 1990 Tenere 600, he had a stator issue but we could not help unfortunately, we chatted for a while and he ended up camping with us too.

More wine, good times.

El Calafate To El Chalten

With a promising weather day we waved goodbye to El Calafate and bolted for El Chalten.

Given the previous weather we had been given we lined up at for new good weather tickets from the weather gods booth and yes we got the winning ticket..…almost no wind at all.

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With an easy day we made it later afternoon and headed to the top of the valley, the road from El Chaiten to Lago De Desierto was potholed and boney so it took an hour to do the 36 km.

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No biggy as there was a lot to look at along the way as well and gringo cagers everywhere.

Getting to the top of the valley was nice but all along the way says no camping, no fires and they wanted 100 Pesos (10 bucks) each just for camping … I don’t think so.

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We headed back to El Chaiten, just as we entered back into town we spotted Tony and Sabana in the Unimog (met them in Punta Arenas) so we swung a right and went to say gidday, we also met Rob who was camping beside them in a Dodge truck.

We asked the local constabulary if we could camp with them and they said no problem!!!…..saweet

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No camp site is free of Murphy tho ....never set your tent up from the other end first, always start from the other end

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This then necessitated the purchase of grapes in a bottle to sit there and chat about life.

A nice lineup of travel hotrods

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The following day was the famous Mount FitzRoy which looks similar to Torres Del Paine so bed at a reasonable hour.

Perito Moreno Glacier

Heading to the park early we wanted to get sunrise photos of Perito Moreno but our day started rough with the fucking yogi bear not letting us in because the ticket people were not there, we said no problem here is our money and give it to them when they arrive but no he was intent on being an arsehole which he did well.

At the park entry waiting

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Finally the ticket people turn up and fuck me if they didn't say you will have to ask the yogi bears, re-ask the yogi bears and they said it is up to the ticket people, what a bunch of retards who all need new jobs away from customer service or dealing normally with people.

Finally on our way we still made it but not quite with sunrise pics, never mind the glacier still well worth seeing up so close.

We were riding along quietly enjoying our ride when these other guys came up on our right hand side so I nailed and cut them off before the corner

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The first glimpse

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As the day progressed we heard very loud cracks and bangs followed by large chunks of ice dropping into the water

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Enjoying watching and listening for most of the day we felt we got our moneys worth as the park entry fee was very expensive

Read the sign on the right hand side about the people killed

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The far side of the glacier

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A large lump breaking off

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A stray lump of crystal ice .. beautiful

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A small vid I knocked up last night as this explains for more than the pics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CiPN6Azw7U


<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8CiPN6Azw7U" width="480"></iframe>


Back to the hostel we stayed at the previous night and get ready for our El Chaiten assault.

El Calafate

The famous Glacier, heading outa town we back-roaded it to our campsite some 30km from the park entry, Laga Roca was our destination, not the expensive camp but the free one just along a bit.

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The camp, your ticket to a stunning free camp space

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I can't believe why they won't let red motorcycles in around here ... some weird shit in this place ... just as well ours is orange and brown

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Arriving at the site we picked a camp that had some wood as we had a big mofo piece of beef to do an asado

Having time to go for a walk we took the opportunity to look around and take the place in, the weather although meant to be fine was cutting in with snow laden cloud....ouwh yes and the temperature plummeting fast

Making a fire and getting organised for our cookup I found some more wire so made our asado net smaller in the openings so the sausies wouldn't fall through to an ugly death

For the first time in nearly three years we finally got to use our tarp as the rain set in for keeps, making the most of our new found shelter fud was consumed and rum drunk...quite a bit too of both.

In preparation for loose skywater

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Check it out bro we even got a picnic table!!!

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Waiting for the fire to burn down a bit

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For this ... half a mammoth

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Some neighbours moved in and were speaking english so we went over and paid a visit, turns out they were neighbours...Ozzies so chats all round, their firewood supply was skinny so we grabbed the big piece we had and bought it over like good neighbours do...good times in front of a warm fire.

Good times again around a campfire.....you can't be good old cavemanism and grog