I got the bus from El Calafate at 8am and it was a 3.5 hour journey to El Chalten up in the mountains. The small town is miles from anything and just wedged between a couple of mountains. When Evan and I got off the bus we met Thomas (German) and another American. The plan was to complete the 8 hour trek to Mt Fitzroy the next day, but at the information centre we were told the weather was good today and bad tomorrow, so that was it. Quick dash to the hostel and try and climb this thing before we run out of light. I grabbed some rolls in town and arranged to meet the others at their hostel asap.

I got there at 12.45pm and the 4 of us started the hike to the viewpoint. It started off uphill but soon levelled out and the scenery was incredible. It was the middle of nowhere and apart from the path there was no sign of people anywhere. After around 2 hours of trekking we got our first glimpse of Mt Fitzroy as the landscape in the distance changed from being green and wind battered to just sheer rocks, glaciers and snow. After 2.5 hours the American lad had to turn around because he had only come for the day trip and had to get the bus back to El Calafate at 6pm so Thomas, Evan and I continued. The last part of the trek was a sheer climb for around 500m straight up and we were battered by strong winds the whole way up. Near the top we were also joined by Michael from the day before.

We got to the top after 3 hours and 15 minutes (its meant to take 4 hours) and enjoyed the rather spectacular view. There is a glacier that hugs the mountain on either side and these drain into two bright blue glacial lakes, one of them directly infront of the Fitzroy itself. For a short while the summit of Mt Fitzroy came out from the clouds as well which made for an excellent photo opportunity. We sheltered from the wind behind a rock and enjoyed a lunch of plain rolls and the emergency chocolate (sorry Harriet) that i had carried around for the last 2 months. After an hour at the top we turned back and headed back into town. The walk back was much easier, and we even found a type of woodpecker that was about 2 metres from us hammering into some wood on the floor. It wasn't scared of people at all and we crept past him on the walk with only 1 metre between us. Once back in town we freshened up and agreed to meet up for dinner.

We went out for another giant steak which the 3 of us (Evan, Thomas and I) all polished off in no time. After a couple more beers and bottle of wine we all turned in.

Next morning i got up at 6.45am ready to catch the 7.30am bus back to El Calafate to try and prepare ready for the 3 day Torres Del Paine trek we had planned for the next 3 days.