Delicate landscapes in Patagonia

Just in time for the scheduled ferry departure on the ‘Lago O’Higgins’, a major part of the ‘Carretera Austral’ bike family was present. From now on the boat to the other side went only rarely, because it was late in the season. Specially if you wanted to go to ‘Tierra del Fuego’. But before I went over the border to Argentina, I packed again my backpack called ‘Nikko’. With the German biking couple Andrea and Felix we wanted to do a multi-day hike to the glacier O’Higgins. After all other cyclists left the ferry and went to the pass to Argentina, we stayed for the rest of the day on the ship with other employees of the commune witch visited the Enstancias around the lake. A lonely life far away from civilization. The landscape around the lake was sparse and consisted mainly of abraded by former glaciers rocks. Nevertheless, a few farmers have settled and managed the few available spaces.
At the last stop, after 12 hours on the boat we finally sat also of in a dinghy. The owner of the Estancia greeted us grumpy and chocked a smile for the tourists who wanted to hike in this miserable weather here for fun. But he let us stay in a small hut with a wood stove and dropped us later with his holey rowing boat to the other river side.
The following day was surprisingly beautiful weather and we took of to the glacier. It was a scavenger hunt. We couldn’t see the main road because of the many small cattle trails. They usually ended in the middle of nowhere and it was difficult to move forward. After some back and forth, we were above the lake and the landscape became a feast for the eyes. Summit covered with ice, snowy walls and the huge ice rink ‘Campo de Hielo Sur’, which extended over the whole region became visible. We were still up to the viewpoint of the O’Higgins Glacier and enjoyed the amazing view. The ice sticking up directly from the water. Broke away large chunks of ice, you could smack the icebergs in the water yet heard in the distance .
Back on our bikes, which lingered in the Chilean police, we made our way over the pass to Argentina. The weather was good and the famous Fitz Roy prongs visible from afar. Was it initially a halfway passable road, it went from the actual border only continue on a trail. Branches sticking up in the way of large stones had to be surrounded and often was the extremely steep path. Several hundred cyclists crossed the line a year and many of them break something on their bikes. To me it slashed the battered anyway Ortlieb front paniers. No, it was not an adventure what many claim, but simply nonsense. Would the Argentine police officers, who had their quarters a few miles below every now and then saw out a few branches, would have much less problems. But it’s like whenever a political issue between Argentina and Chile. Since the one hand, the pass does not expand, the other side were not taking care about the trails. In this case, the victims were the cyclists or the bikes.
Arriving at the grumpy Argentine border guards we had to cross the Lago Desierto by ferry. It was stormy and the boat had problems with the landing. To help the boatman I put my bike up at the jetty. The fully loaded bike has been detected by the wind and transported into the lake. The bags in the water ran completely full of water. Fortunately the most of the electronic stuff was on the top side. Nevertheless, some things suffered from the now completely perforated and no longer waterproof bags.
When we woke up the next morning, snow was falling and 100m higher the forests and mountain tops were white sugared. It was cold, but the scenery gorgeous. In El Chalten we were happy to get in a warm hostel.
The small tourist town was the starting point for walks in the Fitz Roy area, the ‘Los Glaciers’ National Park. So I went with my companion ‘Nikko’ for a few short trips by foot in the mountains. The trails were pretty full. Tourists dressed like from ‘North Face’ catalog the ways of torturing himself up. The absolute contrast program to solitude in the last days. However, the scenery was impressive. No wonder the area was one of the main attractions of Argentina. After a day off I went, now with the long-term cyclist Nando, to the next main attraction of the country. The famous Petit Moreno! One of the world’s few advancing glaciers which still grows…