Paso Quadrado: view south to Cerro Torre. El Chalten, Argentina, Patagonia, South America.

Paso Quadrado affords a view south to Cerro Torre, near El Chalten, Argentina, Patagonia, South America. We hiked scenic Rio Electrico Valley to Refugio Piedra del Fraile ("Stone of the Friar", 14.5 km round trip) to stay overnight in dorms. A path from the refuge ascends very steeply to Paso Quadrado (gaining 1340 m vertically in 8.4 km round trip). The last kilometer climbs up steep snow which could require crampons if icy (but was passable in soft snow using our trailrunning shoes). Views keep improving as you ascend. Monte Fitz Roy is also known as Cerro Chaltén, Cerro Fitz Roy, or Mount Fitz Roy (3405 m or 11,171 ft elevation). The first Europeans recorded as seeing Mount Fitz Roy were the Spanish explorer Antonio de Viedma and his companions, who in 1783 reached the shores of Viedma Lake. In 1877, Argentine explorer Francisco Moreno saw the mountain and named it Fitz Roy in honour of Robert FitzRoy who, as captain of HMS Beagle, had travelled up the Santa Cruz River in 1834 and charted large parts of the Patagonian coast. Mt Fitz Roy was first climbed in 1952. Cerro is a Spanish word meaning hill, while Chaltén comes from a Tehuelche word meaning "smoking mountain", due to clouds that usually form around the peak.

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Filename: 2002PAT-4307.jpg
Copyright: © Tom Dempsey / PhotoSeek.com
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Paso Quadrado affords a view south to Cerro Torre, near El Chalten, Argentina, Patagonia, South America. We hiked scenic Rio Electrico Valley to Refugio Piedra del Fraile ("Stone of the Friar", 14.5 km round trip) to stay overnight in dorms. A path from the refuge ascends very steeply to Paso Quadrado (gaining 1340 m vertically in 8.4 km round trip). The last kilometer climbs up steep snow which could require crampons if icy (but was passable in soft snow using our trailrunning shoes). Views keep improving as you ascend. Monte Fitz Roy is also known as Cerro Chaltén, Cerro Fitz Roy, or Mount Fitz Roy (3405 m or 11,171 ft elevation). The first Europeans recorded as seeing Mount Fitz Roy were the Spanish explorer Antonio de Viedma and his companions, who in 1783 reached the shores of Viedma Lake. In 1877, Argentine explorer Francisco Moreno saw the mountain and named it Fitz Roy in honour of Robert FitzRoy who, as captain of HMS Beagle, had travelled up the Santa Cruz River in 1834 and charted large parts of the Patagonian coast. Mt Fitz Roy was first climbed in 1952. Cerro is a Spanish word meaning hill, while Chaltén comes from a Tehuelche word meaning "smoking mountain", due to clouds that usually form around the peak.