9
ediciones
Cambios
→Season 2025/26: Track log
==Season 2025/26==
'''GPT39 / 2026-02-08 / 1 day / Lift, Hiking, Bus / RR / SOBO / Alex and Aoife'''
39 was just a transit Stage for us to get to El Chalten as our Holiday is nearing an end.
Organised with Ricardo a lift to the Argentina/Chile Border for 30k CLP. This is something he does regularly for people.
We got our passports stamped at Chilean border, which took around 10 mins per person.
Ricardo drove us 1hr to the border then you have to walk the final 7km into the Argentine Border Checkpoint. Super easy and fast walking.
Once at the Argentina check Point it took them around 5 mins to stamp both our passports. They did not check our bags, ask questions or anything.
No ferry that day so we walked the RR around Lago Desierto, we had to do it quick as we knew there was a 6pm bus leaving the southern end.
Bus was expensive at 40,000 Argentinian Pesos but we were tired and happy to pay. We only just got a seat on the bus potentially worth booking ahead. Company was Zona Austral Turismo +5492966709153.
'''2026-Jan-14 to 2025-Jan-15 / 1.5 days / Hiking / NOBO / RR + Laguna Sucia + Option B / Kole & Emily'''
Easy trail and beautiful landscapes, though we found the attractiveness somewhat undermined by the crowds. Attractiveness - 4/5. Difficulty - 1/5.
Camp: Laguna Suica, OSM bivouac, 49.28667, -72.98471
* We’d highly recommend camping/sunrise at Laguna Suica; beautiful views with no one around. We followed the trail on the OSM starting from X {39-B} [0.6/736] which was clear and well-marked with cairns. There is some boulder scrambling at the end, but not difficult. We camped at the OSM bivouac; 3-4 spots with minimal protection, and a great cowboy spot inside a rock overhang/cave. There are 1-2 potential spots in the forest below if you’ve poor weather (around -49.28132, -72.96826).
* Option B is worthwhile to get a view of the whole Fitzroy range, but is very crowded.
* There are a lot of cars around Lago del Desierto. Hitching to/from was relatively easy, though a lot faster in the late afternoon when going SOBO, and morning when going NOBO. Tourists told us there’s also a bus from El Chalten.
Accommodation - Camping Cara Sur, El Chalten. Wooden platform for tents, with rope provided for pitching. Little to no wind protection. Common space with gas stoves; good hot showers. 15.000 ARS.
<big>'''GPT39 & 38/ 2025-12-14 to 2025-12-16/ 3 days/ Hiking/ NOBO/ RR, variant (Laguna Sucia), variant B, option 2, new variant, RR/ Greg Carter'''</big>
Overall
Wonderful landscapes and views, with easy mountain, valley and forest hiking and navigation.
Attraction: 4
Difficulty: 1
Day 1
El Chalten to Laguna Sucia via RR. Currently there is no control point or fee payable on the RR. The RR starts on the track to Cerro Torre which attracts plenty of tourists but has wonderful views of Cerros Torre and Fitzroy etc. The cross-track which passes Lagunas Hija and Madre is less touristy, and is a pleasant forest and lake walk with mountain views. When you get to the trail to Laguna de los Tres, tourist numbers spike dramatically. To avoid them you can hike up the valley to Laguna Sucia.
The Laguna Sucia track is not a tourist track: it is not marked on signs and is classed as a “remote” area. To get to Laguna Sucia I went through the Poincenot campground and up the valley via a trail (marked with cairns), beside a dry southern branch of the Rio Blanco. Eventually I had to turn north to ford the Rio Blanco, to get to the main trail to Laguna Sucia, which is entirely on the northern side of the Rio Blanco. In hindsight it would have been easier to use this main trail up and back. The main trail starts shortly after a wooden bridge on the Laguna de los Tres trail. The unmarked turn-off (to the left/south) is here: -49.27880, -72.96557. Follow this trail firstly through forest then onto bouldery river terrain, high up the valley. Eventually the river valley pinches and you have to ascend a bluff to the north to get to the final section of trail. Don’t take the first trail up the bluff - it’s a very steep and muddy dirt track. Much easier to take the next trail 100m further up the valley, which is an easy rock scramble. The last section of trail involves quite a lot of rock hopping, and you will pass a small campsite (3 sites) here: -49.28673, -72.98497. The campsite doesn’t offer much protection from the wind but has superb views of the mountains. Laguna Sucia is beautiful with the mountains in the background. I was lucky enough to have a condor fly in and wash in the river.
I went back down the valley and camped in a lovely sheltered spot in the woods here: -49.28205, -72.96560. There is plenty of water in the vicinity. In hindsight it would have been easier to camp here and do a side trip with a light day pack up to Laguna Sucia. I suggest that Laguna Sucia be a new variant.
Day 2
I started the day with a quick return hike up to Laguna de los Tres lookout. Superb views of the Laguna and mountains. There are 2 exposed campsites (maybe more) at the lookout, which you could use at the end of the day when tourist numbers have dwindled: -49.28042, -72.98402.
I then hiked to Laguna Piedras Blancas. The trail is easy and well marked with cairns. Beautiful views at the Laguna.
Instead of then following the RR I followed an easy and pleasant trail to the east which is well marked with cairns, and follows Rio Blanco. This worked well because I decided to skip the Glacier Marconi extension, and the trail cuts out a significant part of the RR to the west. I suggest that this be a new option 2A. I passed a major signed intersection at -49.23967, -72.94769. It was then an easy walk to intersect the RR at -49.23038, -72.94713. At Ruta 41 it was easy to hitch to Lago Del Desierto. I hiked about 4km along the lake and camped at a flat sheltered spot (space for 2 tents) beside the trail: -49.05881, -72.86824 (note: dry camp, but there are plenty of streams along the trail, plus occasional access to the lake, to fill up before camp). Along the trail there are stunning views of the lake, the mountains on the other side of the lake, and Cerro Fitzroy to the south-east. If you have time and the weather is good for views I highly recommend hiking the lake rather than taking the ferry.
Day 3 (GPT39 to 38)
I hiked to the northern end of Lago del Desierto, had my passport stamped by a friendly gendarme and continued onto GPT38. It is 22km to Candelario Mancillo, the first 7km (to the border with Chile) is slow going, in forest with a lot of up and down, mud and fallen branches. The last 15km (in Chile) are easy, being entirely on a well-maintained secondary road. In Candelario Mancillo my passport was stamped by a friendly carabinero, after he took approx 20min to do some online checks.
I then walked about 1km S-E, along the coastal road, to get to the campground Camping Estancia Santa Teresita (-48.87812, -72.73993). There is a friendly manager called Ricardo. Cost CLP10,000/night per tent. Free StarLink wifi! Freshly baked pan. No cervezas when I was there.
<big>'''2025-11-19 to 2025-11-20 / 1.5 days / hiking / NOBO / Varient C, Laguna Sucia , Option 2, RR, Varient A / Ohad & Bailey'''</big>
Gorgeous section, with heavely crowded parts. We walked from town straight to Laguna Sucia, then to Laguna piedras blancas. Hitched 19km~ on the road and took the boat ride on Lago del Desierto
Fees:
We paid 67000$, we weren't sure if we will get checked when exiting the park so we bought tickets for 2 days, this was unnecessary as there was no one at the north checkpoint.
Single day is 45000$ which you can avoid if going on RR (no checkpoint to Laguna Torre)
The boat on Lago del Desierto was 50000$
Camps:
OSM Biviouac Waypoint near Laguna Sucia at S 49.286749 W 072.985096.
Beautiful campsite just beneath Mt. Fitz Roy, on the way to the laguna there is a sign saying that in order to go you need to register with park authorities, we did not.
Not a well known spot so while the view may be a tiny bit infirior to the view from Laguna de los tres, The fact we were alone was amazing.
There is a stream and protected spots.
Argentinian Border Control, talked to the Carabineros which pointed us to where we could sleep. Just after the helipad.
Fords:
Non notable
Water:
No problem
Trail Conditions/Challenges:
Varient C is very well maintained, some parts are muddy and overflowing but overall great trail. Lots of people.
Trail to Laguna Sucia well marked with Cairns, very bouldery. There is an option to go on a very steep bypass trail in the forest or scramble up a rock face. We found the rock face nicer.
Option two (didnt enter Valle Electrico) was less maintainted but quite clear.
Lots of Cars parking before Bridge, X {39} [31.7/449], the bridge seems sketchy and puts off a lot of drivers but it was reletivley easy to hitch.
The boat ride was scenic and enjoyable. Theres a resturant and tiny stand, The last boat was at 16:00. Going NOBO was easy, SOBO it seems you need to reserve it beforehand, there is wifi at the argentinian border control.
Attractiveness: 5/5
Difficulty: 1/5
==Season 2024/25==
*'''2025-MAR-21 to 2025-MAR-23 / 2 days / Hiking / SOBO / RR + OH (Var. 02) / Ivan, Jakub, Daniel'''
A simple section where you won’t avoid the crowds of tourists from El Chaltén, but the absolutely stunning views make up for it.
We chose variant 02, which seemed more attractive to us, and we didn’t regret the detour at all. Laguna Piedras Blancas is beautiful and wild. From the junction at km 1.2, we didn’t follow the trackfiles but took a trail along the creek instead. Initially, it’s a well-trodden, marked trail, which you eventually need to leave. Then, you follow a weakly marked trail, where navigation depends on cairns, making it more CC than TL. The detour to Laguna Piedras Blancas involves scrambling over large boulders.
On the entire variant 02, we didn’t meet anyone until we reconnected with the trail from Lago de los Tres. From that point, the trail becomes heavily frequented. Similarly, expect crowds at Laguna Torre during the day. We, however, timed our arrival for just after sunset. By then, apart from one passing group, there was no one else, and we had the lake to ourselves. It was truly magnificent.
FEES
At the start of variant 02, there’s a booth with a sign stating that the entry fee for one day is 45,000 ARS. In our case (late March), there was no one there.
CHALLENGES
The trail is easy except for the section around Laguna Piedras Blancas on variant 02, which involves challenging scrambling over large boulders. There’s even a sign along the trail warning that it’s a dangerous area and that entry is at your own risk.
BIVOUACING
You can camp for free right at the start near the Argentine border control.
We camped at a spot under trees at the coordinates -49.08736, -72.89699 (km 12.3). It’s a great spot, and we highly recommend it.
Near Piedras Blancas, there’s a small flat area suitable for one tent at the coordinates -49.26553, -72.95429.
The campsites near Laguna Torre looked decent, though we didn’t use them.
WATER
There’s plenty of water along the trail, though it’s often with glacier flour. Your filter will suffer!
RESUPPLY
As far as we know, there’s no resupply option near the border control at the beginning of the section. However, on the other side of the lake (km 11.6), there’s a restaurant.
At the end of the section, in the tourist trap of El Chaltén, everything is incredibly expensive, and the selection is fairly limited, but you can resupply well enough. We combined resupplies from the supermarkets Lo de Lourdes (-49.3254052, -72.8916425) and Supermercado Chaltén (-49.3307613, -72.8857952), which seemed to us the best-stocked.
We also briefly visited Supermercado Pachamama on the main square (-49.33318, -72.88383), which we found to be the worst option.
Most outdoor shops in El Chaltén sell gas canisters.
'''2025-MAR-10 to 2025-MAR-12 / 2.5 days / Hiking / SOBO / RR, Laguna Sucia/ Nimrod & Tamar
'''
Nothing much to add. We hiked RR and did not meet any rangers.
It took us a full day taking a taxi from Candelario Mancilla, hiking to the border and along Laguna Desierto.
We hitchhiked from Laguna Desierto at 18:00.
We hiked on the RR and camped at (-49.153433,-72.567564).
Next day we hiked to Laguna Sucia and camped by Laguna Torre. Sunrise in Torre was amazing.
Next day we hiked to El Chalten, resupplied and went on to section 40.
* ''' 2025-MAR-10 > 12 / 2,5 jours / Randonnée / SOBO / RR > 39-02 > 39-B > RR > <strike>39-E</strike> > RR / Pierre-Marie '''
Etape : GPT37+GPT38+GPT39
| Meteo : soleil
| Eau : facile
| Neige : non
| Intérêt : 5/5
| Difficulté : 3/5
| Danger : péages, touristes, torrent impassable
Le sentier le long du lac est un peu humide mais il est très bien entretenu. J'ai marché 4 km sur la gravel road puis un couple d'argentin super gentil m'ont emmené directement au km 31,7 au départ du sentier. Le péage était désert alors je suis passé sans payer direction le glacier Marconi 39-02. Après le camp du km 6,7 il faut passer au nord de la colline, le long du torrent. Globalement il faut utiliser son GPS, il y a des cairns et un marquage mais ça ne suffit pas. J'ai campé ici (-49.2126854, -73.06602) ça protège du vent dominant mais attention il y a des courants d'air. Le point de vue est ici maintenant (-49.2127844, -73.0944228) car le glacier a bien reculé. La glace tombe même sous nos yeux. Les sentiers 39-B (El Chaltén - Lago de los Tres) et RR (El Chaltén - Laguna Torre) sont saturés de touristes, ça ralenti vraiment le rythme. J'ai essayé de faire le sentier 39-E mais le torrent est totalement infranchissable près du lac. Il faut soit utiliser la tyrolienne au début du torrent, soit le franchir 1km plus bas puis passer dans le bois (bush-bashing). Le courant est très rapide, l'eau est totalement trouble, il y a des blocs de glace qui passent. Comme il fallait revenir par le même chemin je n'ai pas essayé, estimant le risque beaucoup trop important. Je ne comprend pas comment ce trail a pu être validé sans pont ni ford alors que même moi je n'arrive pas à traverser en fin de saison. J'ai continué vers El Chaltén. Attention ils ont un vrai probleme avec la CB et veulent tout le temps du liquide, et pas de liquide Chilien... Cependant j'ai pu faire mes courses avec ma CB.
'''28Fev2025 - 1Mar2025 / hiking NOBO / RR - varB OH1 - RR / 2 days / Lilian and Clara'''
No park ranger at begining of RR trail to Laguna Torre.
Easy trail overrun ++, we decided to skip laguna torre.
We went to laguna sucia and loved it, very majestic.
Camp at laguna piedras blancas, nice view on the glaciar and fitz roy at the end of the trail but crazy wind. Some good wind sheltered spots for tent under huge rocks (one very good and even rain protected).
Trail on OH1 is close but still easy to follow, no one there and really nice.
No park ranger at rio electrico around 11am.
It took us 30sec to get a ride to the lake at the end of the morning.
There you have 1h free wifi that is good. Several solutions to eat (foodtruck and restaurant, minimarket with mostly drinks and sweats). possibility to pay by card.
Boat going to north side of the lake several time per day (except no boat on monday), 40k ARG.
Trail to north side along the lake is easy.
Camp at the Argentinian border campsite : water, toilets and awsome view on lake + fitzroy.
'''2025-Feb-21 to 2025-Feb-22 / 2 days / Hiking / SOBO / RR + Option 2 + variant B + Laguna Sucia + variant C / Sean & Neele'''
Trail along Lago Desierto is nice and straight forward. We hitched the road to the start of Option 2. There's a ticket booth with the new park fees near the start however it was closed in the afternoon. We found somewhere hidden in the forest to camp.
The rest was all straight forward. Didn't see anybody at Laguna Piedra Blancas, Lago De Los Tres was very busy as expected, Laguna Sucia was much quieter but still a few people. We took variant C to El Chalten as the weather looked bad the following day, very easy trail lots of tourists.
*'''2025-Feb-04 to 2025-Feb-05 / 1.5 days Hiking / SOBO/ RR/ MiaimZelt'''
Day 1: The trail along Lago del Desierto is nice and easy, sometimes a bit wet. When i reached the gravel road it took more than 1h to get a hitch. A friendly couple from Buenos Aires took me. Wanted to continue with the RR, but a sign said "access only for guests of Hotel El Pilar". Was confused and continued some meters on the road and tried to bypass on a gravelroad. But it ended nowhere. Was frustrated and had to backtrack. Found a possibility to bypass Hotel El Pilar on this 4x4 track: -49.235541, -72.932263. It continues to the trail. From there it was easy hiking and at 8pm i pitched my tent hidden in the forest.
Day 2: The official campsites like Poincenot now charge 15.000 ARS (~15US$). In my opinion it's pricey for what you get: a flat spot in the forest and access to a vault toilet without toilet paper.
Went up to Laguna Sucia. Really beautiful, but the trail was suprinsingly technical with a short & very steep ascent and a stretch on big boulders.
It was very easy hiking until El Chaltén. Met tons of people. Missed Laguna Torre, want to do it later with Arno.
* '''2025-Jan-22 to 2025-Jan-23 / 2 / <span style="background-color:aqua;">Packrafting</span> / SOBO / RP + RR + Variant: C + B + new Option/ Roman'''
Route: Started the section directly from GPT38. Started packrafting at Lake, Ferry {39} [0.1/507] (Lago del Desierto) to the other side of the ferry. Hitchhiked from there to El Chaiten. Went on a short one day hike to Viewpoint {39-B} [2.6/1158] (Laguna de los Tres) via a new Option (Laguna Sucia).
Weather: Day one was cloudy with little wind. Day two was clear and sunny until noon after that cloudy.
Details: Started Packrafting at ~14:00 PM. There was a guard who wanted me to put in a helmet (which doesn't make sense for a lake crossing. I had full Packrafting gear (drysuit, life jacket, leash, etc.). Luckily a friend had a helmet i could use. After the guard verified that the weather was good i was allows to go. As pointed out earlier this isn't a official rule it depends on the guard. After starting i experienced the "topical" condiciones on the lake. Basically no wind at the shores (north/south shore) and strongish winds in the middle 20-30 km/h N. All of this can be read in the comments here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1D38JiiEhq/ . After 2.25 hours and a average speed of 4.2 km/h. I After i reached the south shore i walked for 5km before I got a lift directly to El Chaiten. It's a busy, touristy and expensive place and I didn't not really enjoyed it.
I went on a fast morning hike the next day to Viewpoint {39-B} [2.6/1158] (Laguna de los Tres). There are 3 entry point where you have to buy a ticket for the national park. They also sometimes check if you have a ticket when you are exiting. The entrance fee can be avoided by 1) enter early in the morning 2) walk around the entry point. The same goes for the way out. You can download the 3 checkpoints at the end. I started in El Chaiten at 03:15 AM and followed variant C from the city center to GPT39-C start and followed the RR north up to GPT39-B end until this point: X {39-B} [0.6/736]. From there I went to Laguna Sucia - i didn't registered/notified anyone for taking this trail even though there was a sign. After that i scrambled my way up to Viewpoint {39-B} [2.6/1158] (Laguna de los Tres) and backtracked the same way via Variant B back to El Chaiten. The route can be downloaded at the end.
Overall: Packrafting Laguna del Desierto was really nice. After that i got way to touristy and crowded for me. I would reccomend continuing as fast as possible and not spending time at El Chaiten or the National Park. The hike to Viewpoint {39-B} [2.6/1158] (Laguna de los Tres) was nice - as I was the only person at Laguna Sucia and I have only met a few people that early in the morning and I was already back around 09:30 AM.
Files (GPX and KMZ /// Track &Additional Markers):
- Checkpoints of the national park & New option: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AqzLweJ3NZW5tJYWBnZnqqOJStEPxQ
Source: https://xn--sealcalafate-bhb.com/contenido/12931/el-lunes-comienza-el-cobro-de-acceso-a-turistas-en-la-zona-de-el-chalten
All tracks are also on Strava and general contact for questions: https://linktr.ee/RundW
* '''2024-12-31 / 1 day / Packrafting & Hiking / NOBO / Bus, RP, RR / Manon, Robin, Lucie, Thomas '''
Took the morning bus from El Chalten to Lago del Desierto. We packrafted the Lago del desierto following RP (by following the east shore). There are multiple beaches to make stops along the lake. The wind started to force a bit towards 2/3 of the lake, creating small waves. We decided to stop the packraft at the next beach and reached the regular route after ~200m of bush bashing.
We arrived at the argentinian border around 3pm. The argentinian and chilean borders need to be crossed on the same CALENDAR DAY and are 20km apart. So the carabineros didn't let us go through given the relatively late hour (need to plan and pass the border in the morning preferably). At the end of the day they gave us the stamp of the next day so that we could leave early (~6am) the next day instead of waiting for 7-8am.
We slept at the argentinian border with a great view of the lake and El Chalten.
* '''Dec 22-23 / OH 39-02 + RR SOBO / wiiiim'''
GPT39 was busy as expected, I hitched a ride from Lago Desierto & entered the park in the afternoon from Rio Electrico on the OH, it has a park toll booth at the start about 200m in, it was closed that rainy afternoon. I camped in some very windy weather at -49.26410, -72.95542 there are several nice well protected rock bivvies, Laguna piedras blancas is a short/nice side trip, I wanted to avoid Poincenot which seems to get absolutely hammered, I was told they will start charging camp fees here very soon? I couldn’t verify this.
Laguna Sucia was a highlight for me, if you’re short on time I would personally pick this over Laguna de los tres
For what it’s worth the new park entry fee system is pretty poorly implemented, it’s currently a sport among back packers to avoid park control booths by starting the trails before 7am. Laguna Torre is still free, so technically you can enter from -49.33148, -72.89532 at any time and hike the RR NOBO without check points, they dont seem to validate inside or at park exits.
*'''GPT39 / 14-17/12/2024 / NOBO / Hiking / Sopho, Adrien /El Chalten - L. Torre - L. de Los Tres - L. Piedras Blancas - Glaciar Marconi '''
Highlights of this first hike with Sopho Ph were the surprisingly adventurous hikes to Glaciar Marconi and marvellous Piedras Blancas.
Day 1 we departed from el Chalten following the regular route Senda a Laguna Torre. There was no checkpoint at the trailhead. The way to the lake is very touristy and the lake itself is also quite busy. This part could have been skipped in hindsight, in favor of the alternative 39-C for example. Then we took the RR to the north and passed by the more tranquil L. Madre, then set camp at Camp Poincenot. Many other campers and mosquitoes there, but pleasant nonetheless.
Day 2 We woke up at 4am to get to the L. De Los Tres during the sunrise. We got there just after 5am, the sun was already up but the cloudy sky made it hidden and its rays weren't lighting the Fitz Roy directly, which seemed to upset some other tourists who had almost all left by 6am. But for us the real spectacle was residing in the beautiful and fastly changing light reflexions on the valley and how it enphasised different parts of it. For instance the lakes and rivers all appeared to be shining like drops of silver liquid metal.
After this unexpectedly calm and poetic moment we went back to Poincenot for a nice little nap. We then headed to Laguna Piedras Blancas following OH 39-02. The more rock hopping nature of the paths to this lake seem to repel the crowd and by the time we got there there was only us, having lunch in front of a magnificent lake and glacier in the middle of white rocks.
In the evening we walked towards the Lago eléctrico through the forest then a rather large trail to finally set camp on a free space near Refugio Piedra del Fraile. You can also camp at the Refugio for 20.000 ARS per person, and they serve pizza and pasta for a price ranging from 18.000 to 25.000.
Day 3 the weather was clear and we bathed in Lago eléctrico just before fording the river Arroyo pollone near the lake shore. The river is rather large and we had very cold water up to our knees but was passible. We set camp at la playita at noon on the northern tip of the Lago eléctrico and went exploring the Laguna del Marconi until its glacier. The way leading to the vicinity of the glacier is very rocky and steep, so better stay away from the actual ice if you're not prepared. The views of the icebergs from the other end of the lake Marconi is already a very beautiful show.
Day 4 we walked back the way by hopping the numerous boulders along the Lago eléctrico and had lunch at the Refugio Piedra del Fraile, enjoying its laid back mountain chalet atmosphere. We arrived at the Rio eléctrico bus station on the PR to El chalten after passing by a close by unmanned park ranger checkpoint at around 3pm. The bus was scheduled at 4.30 pm but we ended up being able to hitch our way back to the city despite the low traffic.
==Season 2023/24==