Located on the border of Argentina and Chile, Mount Fitz Roy is located near El Chaltén village, in the Southern Patagonian ice field. Although the mountain isn’t exceptionally high, the sheer granite faces present long stretches of arduous technical climbing and as a result they are preserved for only they very experienced! Apparently Mount Fitz Roy is on average only successfully ascended once a year. Definitely not a challenge for the light hearted!
Mount Fitz Roy gets its name from Captain Fitzroy of the HMS Beagle, who in 1834 accompanied Charles Darwin up the Río Santa Cruz to within 50km of the Cordillera. Fitzroy and Darwin were presumably the first Europeans to view Mount Fitz Roy’s classic 3441m summit of smooth frost-polished granite. The Teluelche (native tribes people of Patagonia) called the mountain Chaltén (‘peak of fire’), apparently in the misunderstanding that Monte Fitz Roy was a actually a volcano. Perhaps this is because occasionally at sunrise the pink towers are briefly lit up bright red for a few seconds and the peak is often covered by clouds creating a smoky appearance.
The smaller ‘needles’ on either side of the Monte Fitz Roy bear the names of members of the 1952 French expedition who first climbed it; Saint Exupery, Mermoz, Guillomet and Poincenot.
Mount Fitz Roy, offers a great alternative or addition to trekking Chile’s classic Torres del Paine circuit. Located within Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. It’s also home to some unique wildlife, from the evasive pudú, the smallest deer in the world that lives in dense cane thickets, and the huemul that roams in the forests. You can also appreciate usual and unusual birds such as the magnific condor, the biggest terrestrial bird in the world.
