OK, we got the bill for the great weather we had in Ushuaia... After setting out in sunny conditions from El Chaltén the day before yesterday for an intended four-day trekking tour through the supposedly superb mountain scenery of Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy, we could only watch the weather continuously deteriorate. After a while there was a constant drizzle and howling winds. The fact we were standing right in front of Cerro Torre and could not even get a glimpse of it was slightly disappointing, though. Then, we traversed to the Fitz Roy base camp. During the walk the wind picked up significantly, the rain increased in intensity and started to mix with hail and sleet... We were quite happy when we reached the nice and sheltered camp under gnarled beech trees. So we just pitched our tent and spent the rest of the evening cooking a sumptuous meal. The roaring wind actually enhanced the cosy feeling inside the tent and sleeping bag.
I briefly woke up around five in the morning, when our neighbours got up to push for the famous sunrise-lookout on Fitz Roy. But they quickly decided to give it a miss after a short while. We could not even be bothered to have a look out of the tent until about nine o'clock. What a surprise when we saw everything covered by snow... It continued to snow off and on during the day, so some time after noon we decided to pack our gear and head back for El Chaltén. The walk back through the snow-drift was not so bad, since we knew there was a hot shower waiting for us somewhere down in the village. This appears to be a good decision, since today the conditions deteriorated even further, the wind is very strong, even down here in the valley...
So this will be a pleasantly lazy day in the nice youth hostel. Maybe we get the chance tomorrow to do a day-walk and get at least a short view on those invisible mountains!
  
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