Hike to Laguna De Los Tres

December 25, 2025

Awake in early hours to carol singing. Not exactly Christmas music but a guiter well played not far away accompanied by fast staccato singing with each line ending with a sustained "fe-liz" A wonderful nocturnal awakening.

Slept again and up early. Large group of Australians in campsite common room made big saucepan of poridge, more than they all could eat which I help myself to in a break from making chilli-tuna sandwichs for lunch.

The morning is still with broken cotton-wool clouds and pleasantly warm for a change as I leave the village heading up the old Laguna Torres trail joining the many others to kilometre 5, where I take a right split, a trail called Madre y Hja, leaving the valley up and over the hill to eventually join the trail up to Mount Fitzroy. Right away there is nobody behind or in front of me until a kilometre in l meet two: the second of whom I ask is the climb hard to American twang reply nah, not hard at all.

So it was, gradually up through forest. The trail hardpack earth, not arduous loose stones and embedded boulders to scramble over which I feared. And it is no distance until the way goes barely conceivably down and levels with meadow forest clearings to the side. Further the first of two lakes come into view: Lago Hja, followed a short way on by Lago Madre.

Meet six young ex-military service Israelis, all with dark-glasses and dressed identially. The one to the fore asks pompously is this the way to Laguna Torres? Yes, I tell them and add 4 kilometres to other trail, right and 4 k more. I even discribe the easy profile. His brothers thank me in a way which was as much an appology for the idiot fore man.

Pass second lake and soon join other trail with iconic Patagonia mountain range ahead. And the logo for an outdoor clothing company. In 1968 a climbing team from California including Yvon Chouinard founder of Patagonia and Doug Tompkins founder of The North Face visit Chalten and make significant ascents including Fitzroy's western face, which would become known as the Californian Route.

Chalten, smoking mountains in native Tehuelche. Argentine explorer Perito Moreno reached Lago Viedma in 1877 and renamed the main peak Fitzroy after Robert Fitzroy, who captained The Beagle which beached in the Santa Cruz river in 1834. He and a team including young naturalist Charles Darwin travelled upstream almost as far as Lago Argentino where stortage of food and increased twisting coarse of the river led to a retreat.

A kilometre across wet meadow on boardwalks and into more forest, a base camp is reached. Most overnight here to see the glow of the rising sun turn the mountain peaks red, but its equally useful for climbers.

From the campsite its a bridge over a stream and 1 kilometre with 400 metres gain in altitude ascent: the hardest part of all scrambling steeply up over bare rocks and waiting for others to safely come down. The last part not as bad, up moraine with Laguna de Las Tres coming into view on the crest of the boulder strewn hill where I sat in the lee of a boulder to lunch. The chilli added an element of spice to the tuna sandwich without being too hot.

Spend a few hours, walking down the moraine inside slope to the glacial lake and around the shore to where a stream flows out and cascades down to another glacial lake far below. Then up to a high promontory with a good view all around where I remained for over an hour.

Ten kilometres walk back, bringing the day's total to 26 kms, taking 3 hours arriving at 20.50, later than I would've liked. Only time to drop backpack at campsite and head to Bandidos Patagonicos for steak dinner. Then back to bivouac.

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