1-4-20 - Monster hike @ Cerro Torre, El Chaltan
/We start the fourth day of the decade still waking up at 6 a.m. to catch the public bus to El Chalten, a small backpacking town at the edge of Los Glaciares National Park in Argentine Patagonia. It’s just 3 hours away via bus. The travel agent arranged for us to get picked up at our hotel to avoid a 25 minute walk to the bus station at the crack of dawn. John and Ashley stay back to catch up on studies while the rest of us gear up for a big day of hiking.
If there was such a thing as Bus Heaven, the Cal-Tur bus from El Calafate to El Chalten is it. The new huge seats made a first class seat on an airplane look cramped. There was even a coffee machine, kitchen, bathroom and an upper deck. Leanne joked she wanted to rent this bus for the rest of the year for the trip.
The earliest bus in the morning which we got left at 8 am putting us in El Chalten at 11am. The bus back leaves at 6pm. Kyle has planned a hike to Laguna Torre at the base of Cerro Torre (Mt. Torre) which is supposed to take 6-7 hours. Kyle is trying to prep the Machu Picchu crew (him, Corey & Justin) for an upcoming 4 day 30 kilometer Inca Trail hike in a few weeks. That leaves us exactly 0 minutes margin of error to catch the bus back at 6pm. Kyle spent a lot of the bus ride studying the trail information and maps to ensure we don’t hit any snafus.
As the bus approaches town, it pulls into the National Park information center and we are informed we must get off for a mandatory briefing. This was not on Kyle’s tightly planned schedule and it now puts our margin of error at negative 15 minutes. We get back on the bus and get let out at the bus station. Once you arrive into town, you still need to first hike quite a bit through town to find the trailhead entrance outside of town.
As we exit town, the road forks and two women are standing at the fork turning their maps around and pointing in both directions apparently not sure which way to go. Kyle cruises right by them taking the right road of the fork. “Kyyyylllleee!” Leanne wails, “are you sure you know where you’re going?” “Yes – I know where I’m going until I don’t anymore.” Kyle approaches the trail with such confidence and vigor that we all feel confident in him getting us there. With him and two Eagle candidates at the helm and a mandatory time crunch from the bus ride home, Leanne is thinking she’s in for a huge challenge today.
We find the trail entrance and hike straight up to the sign announcing this is the way to our destination Laguna Torre. A couple is standing by the sign looking confused. They ask us if we know how to get to the lagoon at Mt. Fitzroy. Kyle shows them the map and explains that they need to go back into town, take the main north-south road and pick up the trailhead to the north outside of town. “See, not I only do I know where I’m going, but I know where they are supposed to be going,” Kyle beams with confidence.
The trail distance is 9 kilometers (~6 miles). After hiking for 10-15 minutes we arrive at a sign announcing the official start of the 9 km trail. It’s already 11:45am and we are just starting the 9 km now. This is not good. The hike is quite arduous and Kyle and Leanne are already feeling it. Kyle has calculated that we need to cover a minimum of 3 km per hour to make it in time to get the bus back to El Calafate. We hit the first kilometer market huffing and puffing as Kyle looks at the time. It took 40 minutes to go the first kilometer – not even close to the pace Kyle indicated that we need.
“What are we walking to again?” Leanne asks. “A lagoon,” Kyle replies. “It’s an out and back trail, right?” “Yes,” Kyle replies. “Which basically means every step I take adds one extra step back right?” Continues Leanne in her interrogation. “Yes,” Kyle replies. “Why are we doing this again?” Leanne asks to which Kyle just shakes his head and marches on.
Leanne is walking, enjoying the scenery and taking her daily minimum of 500 photos each day. But secretly hoping we all decide to abort the final destination and turn back a bit sooner. We come to a viewpoint at Km 3. With a bit of hope In her voice Leanne asks, ”Is this it? Can we turn back now?” “Nope, not it,” Answers Kyle.
At this point, Kyle has calculated that we have about 0% probability of making it all the way to the destination but keeps it to himself and keeps plugging away. We pass a hiker who is asking a woman who is already returning what the trail looks from here. She says in Spanish that the first 3-4 kilometers are very difficult but then it gets much easier. At least that what Kyle thinks she said as best as his Spanish can tell or maybe he had no idea what she said and it was just wishful thinking. Kyle is going to go with former.
After hiking another kilometer, we come across a babbling river with great view of Mount Torre and its adjacent glacier in the distance. With a bit of eagerness now in her voice Leanne asks, “is this it? Can we turn around now?” “Nope, it’s only kilometer 4,” Answers Kyle.
Sure enough, the trail dips downhill and flattens out. “We need to pick up the pace now if we have any hope of making it,” Kyle encourages us. By now Leanne has realized that a 9 km hike is actually an 18 km out and back. Add to that the walking that we did to arrive at the trailhead, and we will be clocking in 15 miles today or more than a half-marathon. Gasp!
Fortunately the trail gets mas fácil (easier) as we skip through areas of changing terrain from forests to heavy bush to boulders to open savannah. The weather is fickle and changes rapidly so we deal with wind, intense sun, chill and even a bit of sprinkles at some parts. We definitely picked up the pace covering more than 4 km in the past hour.
At kilometer 8, we emerge from the forest next to the huge roaring river. Leanne asserts “this must be it! Can we turn around now?” Kyle just shakes his head no and says “we’re so close, were almost there.” “I don’t care if we miss the damn bus, I’m not turning around 1 km short of the end. You’d have to drag me kicking and screaming back through the forest for eight kilometers at this point.”
We arrive at Torre Lagoon a bit more than halfway of the allotted time we left so we eat lunch very quickly at the lagoon overlooking the mountains and glacier. This is the destination we walked so far to see. Our allocated 15 minutes for lunch and resting flies by and it’s time to head back. Now we have to really hustle on the way back in order to make the 6 pm bus. Lunch has a restorative power as we fly back at an even faster pace covering more than 4 km in the first hour.
Kilometer 5 is uphill and Kyle and Leanne are really feeling it in the legs as they have somehow not surprisingly turned into lead. The three teens forge ahead leaving us both in their dust. We think we will catch up with them at their next rest stop but that doesn’t happen. At kilometer 6, the trail becomes dicey. While it’s downhill, much of the path is steep rocks and slippery terrain which means going slow. Kyle keeps nervously glancing at the time and shaking his head. Every time Leanne stops for a picture, Kyle says, “if we miss the bus, I’m blaming that picture.”
Kyle and Leanne now have to make it through the second half together as the kids are nowhere to be seen. At a few points, Leanne and Kyle get worried that somehow they must have unknowingly passed the teens. Leanne even suggests asking other hikers to look at the teenagers’ photo to see if anyone has crossed their path ahead or behind us. We keep coming to obvious stopping points where we are expecting them to be waiting for us for us but no sign of them.
Leanne recalls the safety warning from the morning at the park info center. The park ranger at the center sternly warned us all of losing our group. There’s no cell reception in the park and there are no park employees in the park to help you. “It’s just you and the trails” she told us earlier that morning. “Don’t go off the trail no matter what.”
“Maybe they split off from the trail somehow?” theorizes Leanne as we have visions of the teens lost in the vast wilderness surrounding us. Leanne is trying to hide her look of panic from her face so as to concentrate on the course. We have to speed hike the last few kilometers as best we can without slipping and pitching over the cliff into a ravine if we have any chance of making the bus.
Kyle and Leanne kept on booking it with the goal of catching up to them. No luck. We get to three rest stops where we had rested on the first half. No kids. We make it to the trailhead sign and still no kids.
“Oh geez, OK, now I’m worried,” shares Kyle as we last saw them two hours ago. Could they be behind? Gotten lost? Do we go forward or wait? Are there man-eating pumas here like they were at yesterday’s park nearby?
Leanne’s heart is now racing from not seeing the kids now for the last 5 kilometers. She says a little prayer. “What do we do if they’re not waiting for us at the trailhead entrance?” asks Leanne. “Who knows. Maybe they’ll get on the bus back and will miss the bus and won’t see them at all. Let’s just keep moving.”
At this point we have 45 minutes to catch the bus and we predict will take at least 45 minutes by foot from the start of the 9km sign. That and our legs have fully turned to Jell-O and feel like they have a 10 pound bowling ball attached to them. We have three missing kids and exactly zero margin for error here. “Keep the faith” whispers Leanne to Kyle. If there aren’t there at the trail entrance, there’s still plenty of daylight (doesn’t get dark until 11 pm.) to figure out Plan B which most likely involves park rangers, helicopters and parents on the verge of having heart attacks.
Then around a brown grassy corner right before we are in sight of El Chalten, Leanne notices from a distance a huge “over the head” hand waving. It was Justin, standing lookout at the high point right before we descend into town. It was the best wave we’ve ever gotten. A wave of relief crashes down on us and we have averted the Plan B disaster scenario. As we got closer, Leanne notices the combined look of relief and happiness on his face. Perhaps he was worried about us. “What took you guys so long? We’ve been waiting here quite a while,” they ask. Kyle simply grunts, “we’re old, dude.”
Given the time, we don’t have a second to find out what actually happened as we still need to race through town to get to the bus station before 6. We only have 24 minutes for a walk that took us around 20 minutes getting here. It’s tight. If we miss this bus, we might have to bunk up in a hostel and most likely miss tomorrow’s flight to Ushuaia.
We are making this bus .... so we hoof it fiercely and pile on the bus at 5:56 with just 4 minutes to spare. We check our Apple Health apps and we’ve clocked over 33,000 steps today and 15 miles. That crushes our previous record by wide margin. Kyle’s previous record was 23K steps in Budapest. Our legs are shot but we are completely thrilled we both completed the entire hike and made the bus.
The ride between El Chalten and El Calafate is gorgeous. Wide open fields with maybe a dozen ranches over the 3 hour bus ride. The sky is filled with gray and white clouds displaying a canvas that resembles heaven at most turns.
As our muscles tighten and we enjoy the view, we can’t help but be proud of the longest hike of the trip so far and possible our longest hike of each of our lifetimes as none of us can remember doing a longer one.
Thanks teens for making it a great one! We barely stay awake for a hamburger and pizza dinner across from the hotel. We will (and did) sleep well tonight.
