Winter in Patagonia (INV)

Upon arrival we welcome you at El Calafate airport and transfer you to town. Check in at your lodge and spare time to visit this picturesque village.

• Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom / No meals provided today.
• Alternative: Hosteria double or single room with private bathroom / No meals provided today.

After breakfast we drive 220 km across the steppe and around lakes Argentina and Viedma towards El Chaltén, at the foot of Fitz Roy. Stop over on route for coffee and home made cakes. Approaching town we will have spectacular views of the mountains and of Glacier Viedma. In the afternoon, we’ll have time to visit town and get used to winter conditions.

• Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom / Meals we provide: Breakfast and dinner.
• Alternative: Hosteria double or single room with private bathroom / Meals we provide: Breakfast and dinner.

The trail starts in the north corner of the town. A gentle slope leads us to the first viewpoint over the River de las Vueltas valley, and we go on to Laguna Capri and the first sights of Fitz Roy. Laguna Capri should be frozen by this time of the year, giving us the chance to get a unique picture of the frozen lagoon with Fitz Roy spires and glaciers in the background. From Capri we already have full views over Fitz Roy. If conditions are OK, we go on towards Rio Blanco, Fitz Roy base camp for climbers. Once at the base camp and depending on weather and terrain conditions those who want can go on snowshoeing to Laguna de los Tres, spectacular viewpoint for Fitz Roy massif, spires and glaciers.
During this trek we climb 500 mts to get to the first viewpoints and 400 more meters if we climb to Laguna de los Tres. We carry snowshoes and we use them when necessary. Walking time depends on the conditions of terrain but please consider a full day hiking.

• Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom / Meals we provide: Breakfast, box lunch and dinner.
• Alternative: Hosteria double or single room with private bathroom / Meals we provide: Breakfast, box lunch and dinner.

We visit today the Torre valley. This valley starts as a glacier valley in the Laguna Torre reaching town as a fluvial valley. Is shorter and with less gain of altitude than Fitz Roy trail.
We get to a first viewpoint of the glacier part of the valley after a first hour of walking. Depending on conditions, we will go on to reach the lagoon, natural viewpoint for the group of ice-mushroom-covered spires of Cerro Torre massif. The lagoon should be frozen and we can cross it up to the front of Glacier Grande. Its blue colour and dimensions are breathtaking.
Weather, conditions and time permitting we can try to make some basic ice climbing in the frozen waterfalls which hang in the sides of the lagoon.
We hike back to El Chaltén in late afternoon.

• Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom / Meals we provide: Breakfast, box lunch and dinner.
• Alternative: Hosteria double or single room with private bathroom / Meals we provide: Breakfast, box lunch and dinner.

Morning at leisure to rest or to take different optional alternatives that the place offers: a walk to Cerro Pliegue Tumbado with beautiful sightseeing points over Fitz Roy, Torre and the glacier valley in between. Or the Chorrillo del Salto waterfall, that should be half frozen in this time of the year. In the afternoon we take our bus back to El Calafate where somebody will meet us and transfer to our lodge.

• Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom / Meals we provide: Breakfast
• Alternative: Hosteria double or single room with private bathroom / Meals we provide: Breakfast

We dedicate this day to one of the World’s Natural Wonder: the Moreno glacier. This ice field- type glacier flows down from the Patagonian Ice field, a big sheet of ice that with its 22.000 square kilometres is the third largest glacier area in the world, after Antarctica (14 M sq km) and Greenland (1 M sq km). Because unusual favourable local conditions, this glacier is the only one in the world that shows a closure and rupture process. The road leads to the very front of the glacier, which will be only meters away from your eyes. A beautiful, short trail, will lead us from the shores of the lake to the upper viewpoints. The roar of the chunks of ice falling inside the glacier or from the glacier into the lake, the frequent collapse of the front seracs into the turquoise water, makes out of this day a very special and unique experience. We will drive 80 km (1 and a half hour) to get and come back from the glacier across the steppe, watching a wide variety of birds.

• Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom / Meals we provide: Breakfast
• Alternative: Hosteria double or single room with private bathroom / Meals we provide: Breakfast

This is a spare day and you can choose some of the options that El Calafate can offer.
The most advisable is to go sailing in the catamarans that make the trip to the glaciers which calve in the west arms of Lake Argentino. Among them are glaciers Upsala, Spegazzini and Onelli, Bolados and Agassiz glaciers in the area of Laguna Onelli.
Also 4 wheel drive excursions and horse riding is available at El Calafate.

• Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom / Meals we provide: Breakfast
• Alternative: Hosteria double or single room with private bathroom / Meals we provide: Breakfast

We fly today from El Calafate airport to Ushuaia airport, in the island of Tierra del Fuego, the legendary Land of Fire. We fly over the Magellan Strait and the snow covered mountains of the south end of the Andes range.
Upon arrival, we check in our lodge and we can then visit the different museums of the City of Ushuaia, like the Navy Museum or the Old Presidium.

• Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom / Meals we provide: Breakfast
• Alternative: Hosteria double or single room with private bathroom / Meals we provide: Breakfast

We drive 17 km towards the Tierra Mayor valley. This area of the Island hosts most of the winter sport resorts of the island because its special geography. We will start our adventure aboard dog sleds pulled by huskies, we shall enter the forest following a trail that leads us to woodcutter’s shelter ( a small log cabin heated only by wood fires).  We will say farewell to the Huskies here and strap on our snow shoes (these are essential as the depth of the snow is normally a metre in this area), our objective is the Alvear Ice falls and the Valley outlook.  Returning to the shelter will be faster as it is all downhill to the woodcutter’s cabin. After lunch, we will have free time for optional activities in the area.
We drive back to Ushuaia in the evening.

• Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom / Meals we provide: Breakfast and box lunch.
• Alternative: Hosteria double or single room with private bathroom / Meals we provide: Breakfast and box lunch.

The Island of Tierra del Fuego is divided north to south by the border between Argentina and Chile. In the southwest corner of the argentinean side is Tierra del Fuego National Park, a place where the forest covered mountains meet the sea. In this spectacular location we will visit Lapataia bay.
In the afternoon we take a boat to go sailing in the Beagle Channel. The goal is the view of Ushuaia and the mountains from the sea, as well as the many sea mammals and birds that lives in the Channel. We will also see the Faro (Light house) Les Ecleurs and we will have a good idea of the braveness of the first sailors of the Channel.

• Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom / Meals we provide: Breakfast
• Alternative: Hosteria double or single room with private bathroom / Meals we provide: Breakfast

Visit the town in the morning by your own. Transfer to the airport to take our flight.
Meals we provide: breakfast