Since I first saw pictures in a magazine I was sold on Patagonia and more specifically Torres del Paine. One of the most remote areas of the world and -arguably- one of the most impressive and beautiful. With it’s amazing varying landscape and three landmark peaks, the park has been elected as the fifth most beautiful place in the world by National Geographic, and the 8th Wonder of the World by TripAdvisor. So, recently I have started to plan for my Torres del Paine solo hike.
But while planning the Torres del Paine, I was looking into options to make the insanely long trip to Chile more worthwile. Besides a potential visit to Antarctica, I stumbled upon the Fitz Roy trek (not to be confused with walking downstairs to the breakfast area of the London Kimpton Fitzroy hotel).
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The Fitz Roy trek?
A similar fantastical landscape as the Torres del Paine trek — but with even worse weather! They got me at ‘worse weather’. Fitz Roy is at the northern tip of gorgeous Parque Nacional Los Glaciers, itself part of Hielo Sur, the largest icecap not in a polar region.
“Around Fitzroy” is 38km and the standard route has you tent at Agostini, Poincenot & Refugio Los Troncos (which sells snacks & meals).
Step 1: settle on the idea.
However, there seem to be two key challenges for me at the moment:
- What to do. Well, maybe at first that seems obvious (hiking the Torres del Paine O circuit), but there’s more to this. Traveling more than 24 hours for a week of hiking seems a bit suboptimal, so after settling on the idea to hike the Torres del Paine O circuit, I started to look for other things to do in the region. Should I spend some more time in the area? Should I visit Easter Island? Should I spend time in Santiago de Chile? Should I visit the nearby wine region? Or … should I hop over to Antarctica? I tend to go with the last option, but that will take another 8 days and quite a big sum of money. So that is why I added the Fitz Roy trek.
- When to go. The best time between September and April, during the southern spring, summer and early autumn. I am currently trying to balance flight ticket cost with how crowded the trail is, how reliable the weather is and what
other thing I want to do in the region.
Step 2: validate
Step 3: settle on a date.
Step 4: lock-in the trip.
Step 5: create a rough day planning for Fitz Roy solo hike.
Fallback options
Especially since my experience at the Iceland Laugavegur trail and it’s fast-changing weather, I promised myself to make a back-up planning 🙂
Step 6: creating a packing list for Fitz Roy solo hike.
To be added later, but probably similar to my Laugavegur packing list.
Budget for Fitz Roy solo hike
- Transportation
- Accommodation
- Food
- Extras
- –
Total cost estimate –
Extra
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