El Chaltén

El Chaltén is the National Trekking Capital and the youngest town in Argentina. The first settlers say that at first this was a "village of cartelitos", because you could read in posters "Civil Registry", "Municipal Delegation", etc., but there was nothing.

El Chaltén

El Chaltén was founded on October 12, 1985, the day on which the decree ordering its creation was signed in order to promote the population settlement in the Cordillera area of ​​the Province of Santa Cruz. The provincial government built homes and so began the history of this tiny village that had just 41 stable inhabitants in the census of 1991 but climbed to 371 ten years later and more than 1500 in 2010. An amazing growth rate!

It is surrounded by the course of the rivers De las Vueltas and Fitz Roy, at the foot of the Cerro Chaltén or Fitz Roy and Torre mountains.

It is the closest town to Lake of the Desert, object of a prolonged border conflict with Chile.

Chaltén is the name that the tehuelches (Aboriginal people of the region) denominated to the hill whose meaning is "mountain that smokes" and that, later, Perito Moreno baptized like Fitz Roy.

The isolation is one of the characteristics of this extreme north of the National Park Los Glaciares. In El Chaltén there is still no satisfactory home telephone network, cell phones do not work and Internet access is poor and very expensive. In return this same condition is one of its values. El Chaltén is still a place without pollution, and its neighbors and authorities strive to keep it that way. A system of waste recycling works, it is a question of electric power lines and telephones running underground, to avoid visual contamination of the landscape, the introduction of non-indigenous animal and plant species is prohibited. And all are attentive to preserve their treasure: the delicate balance of the natural environment that surrounds them.

The majority of the visitors who arrive are attracted by a challenge: to practice climbing, trekking or hiking in one of the imposing granite spiers that surround the village.

The options are many: you can take simple trails, in the middle of the forest, others that include some climbing, or choose one of the most demanding expeditions on the planet: to travel part of the Patagonian Continental Ice, the cradle of glaciers. To help you decide, we offer you a quick guide and a number of useful tips.

During the season from December to March this paradise for adventure lovers attracts thousands of enthusiastic travelers. And the capacity of the villa is limited, so it is imperative to make a reservation or advance consultation if you want to have safe services.

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