November 30, 2016
Wed 30th Nov: Chalten rest day 3
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My legs are throbbing with fatigue this evening. A healthy feeling that comes after a day of hard toil. The result of feeling that I'm in Chalten, a village founded as late as October 1985 as a service centre for hikers to the foothills and climbers of the mountain, Fitzroy. A peak first conquered for the first time in the early sixties, when here, this whole area was roadless wilderness. In any case, when you're here, what do you do? You hike up to get a better view of the mountain: ten kilometres up, the final part a steep scramble up a moraine to a stony shelf looking down into a huge hole carved out by a glacier now receded up the mountain. At the bottom a aquamarine lake called "Lago del Los Tres" in memory of those pioneer climbers.
The day sunny to begin with, until cold misty cloud crept up from the west side, over the great rock pinacle, and a north-westerly wind picks up. I take shelter behind a big round stone.
It takes three hours walking back down: the last part, I ran. Anxious to collapse in my tent with a cup of tea and cake.
This evening the expected storm has broke. Strong wind followed by driving rain. I've pulled the rainfly over the tent to avoid being inundated. Apart from this there's nothing else worth mentioning.
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