Hiking Heroes in El Chalten

I'll let you in on a secret: I am a terrible sportsperson.

I wish I was one of those super fit Australians who surf on their weekends and do triathlons in their spare time.  But there is a clear reason why I was a drama and music geek at school; I sucked at sports!

So when we went hiking up Mount Fitz Roy in El Chalten for 9 hours, I may have had a couple of mental breakdowns climbing up and down the mountain. (Seriously!)

Lucky for me, I had a wonderful support team to get me through the day:

Danny - experienced mountain man and champion boyfriend.

And Pablo and Maria - two Argentine friends who were so lovely and patient to wait for me to catch up to them all day.

I left my trekking pants in Ushuaia meaning that I had to wear my gringo pyjama pants instead.  Put it this way, if I got lost on the mountain, the helicopters would definitely be able to see me from a far distance!

Say hello to the Pink Panther ...

We made our way across to the snowy plains and icy cold creeks, looking upwards at incredible peaks.

(Pablo is an amazing photographer and was generous enough to share his photos - like the one above - you can check out his Flickr profile here.)

Then we started to really climb up the mountain.

Where I may have fallen and face-planted myself into the snow a couple of times!

I had to concentrate really hard on where I was stepping.

But Danny?  Well he just glided up the mountain with his smug smile on his face.

Not fair.

Two hours (and a few tears) later, we arrived at the Laguna de Los Tres.

It's the most beautiful viewpoint in the El Chalten tracks, with spectacular sights of the Fitz Roy peak towering above.

This little bird was gloating about arriving at the Laguna before us.

Nobody likes a show-off.

So I decided not to share my sandwich with him.

I was cold and miserable and tired at the time, but in hindsight, this was one of the most gorgeous views I have seen.

Hiking back down the mountain was a bit different than getting up.

It started like this.

Then we just fell on our asses and slid down the ice for the rest of the way down.

We all made it down to the bottom in one piece!

And walked back to town via more beautiful scenery.

It was dark by the time we got back to town.

Probably my fault for dawdling behind and not being a fitter person.  Promise to exercise and get fit before the next big hike!