Report from October 9, 2023

On Monday, we hit the long, open desert road from Perito Moreno, Argentina to El Chalten, Argentina.

I’d skied in El Chalten last season with our good friend Gabe Monroe and the place blew my mind.

The main feature of this road trip for me is El Chalten.

Day #6 Details:

• Miles Driven:  384
• Total Miles Driven: 1,249
• Hours of Driving:  8
• Latitude:  46.5ºS → 49.3ºS
• Good Food Eaten:  Maffia in El Chalten – insane salad, amazing Ossubucco Ravoii, ridiculous pork cannelloni
• Lodging: Guer Aike – epic tiny homes with full views of the Fitz Roy Towers

We left Perito Moreno early and headed south through the high desert.

Right away, we spotted flamingos.

Then more flamingos.

Then we finally had to pull over when we saw over 40 flamingos in one spot.

Flamingos make me happy.

The idea that you can ski powder on the glacier and see flamingos on the same day floods my brain with dopamine.

The rest of the road was full of Guanacos (little, fuzzy, llamas).

We likely saw over 1,000 Guanacos on this day.

We also likely saw over 500 dead Guanacos.

The barbed wire fences here kill Guanacos at a rate of around 1 to 2 per mile.

They get caught on the fences when jumping over them and the barbes hold them.

They always have their hind legs caught above the knee or have one ankle caught.

It’s brutal to see and we wish they’d come up with a new strategy to avoid this massacre…

Also, at Tres Lagos, not far from El Chalten, we saw about 100 Guanacos newly dead and all over the place.

They weren’t all on the fences.

They were just strewn haphazardly everywhere.

We have no explanation for what happened and haven’t been able to acquire any good answers here in El Chalten.

We also saw many Rhea (South American Ostrich) but they are so camouflaged that our photos of them are trash.

Arriving in El Chalten was glorious.

A few flakes of snow were falling and the Fitz Roy towers slowly emerged from cloud and shroud.

We ate an excellent dinner and prepared for a 4-night barrage of skiing and overwhelming scenery.

Thanks, Argentina!

3,600-Mile Patagonia to Antarctica Safari 2023

Photos