Up the valley of the Fitz Roy river to a grey lake full of icebergs, where the Torre glacier spills down beneath Cerro Torre, the needle that climbers call the hardest mountain on earth.
Cerro Torre is a 3,128-metre spire of granite capped with rime ice, and the walk to its lake is the gentler of El Chaltén's two great day hikes.
The trail leaves the west side of the village, climbs to the Mirador del Torre, where the whole Torre group appears at the head of the valley, then follows the Fitz Roy river across flat meadows and through lenga woods to the terminal moraine. Over the crest lies Laguna Torre, grey with glacial flour, with icebergs calved from the glacier drifting at its far end.
Most people stop at the lake. Do not: climb the moraine ridge another 40 minutes along its right-hand shore to the Mirador Maestri for the full view of the tower, the glacier and the ice cap behind. Strong walkers can link it with Laguna de los Tres via the Madre e Hija lakes for a two-day loop, with a night at Poincenot or De Agostini camp.
A steady climb at the start, then mostly level walking to the moraine.
Leave from the signed trailhead on the west side of the village and climb through scrub above the rooftops.
The Torre group appears at the head of the valley, with Fitz Roy off to the right on a clear day.
Follow the Fitz Roy river past the Madre e Hija junction and through woods to De Agostini camp.
Top the moraine to the grey lake and its icebergs, with the glacier tumbling down beneath the spire.
Walk the moraine crest along the lake's right shore to the Maestri viewpoint, then return the same way.
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Leave by 8am for the lake before the afternoon wind, and give yourself a spare day in case the tower is clouded.
De Agostini camp lies in the woods near the lake; register at the ranger station before you go.
The Madre e Hija trail links Laguna Torre with Poincenot in about two hours for the classic two-day circuit.
Calafate & Chaltén practical notes →Wikimedia Commons photographs are used under their licences.
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