Patagonia 26 Oct 27 – Nov 7 · ARG + CHL
Fitz Roy massif reflected in the turquoise water of Laguna de los Tres

Ten days, two parks

Fitz Roy to Torres del Paine

Eight days on the ground across El Chaltén and Torres del Paine, hung on real flights and one booked bus — then flexed against the weather.

Laguna de los Tres, El Chaltén · Almonroth · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

The call

Both countries. Argentina first. ATL→Buenos Aires (Lima layover) Oct 27, land BA the 28th, BA→El Calafate the 29th and straight north by rental car to El Chaltén. Four Chaltén nights, then the booked 16:30 bus to Puerto Natales on Mon Nov 2, three days in Torres del Paine, out of Natales 09:00 Fri Nov 6 via Santiago, ATL 07:00 Sat Nov 7. from the booking sheet

Eleven calendar days, but only eight with ground under you and six that are genuinely full. Two are burned getting there, two more are half-eaten by the flight south and the border bus. Plan against six.

What the shape costs · and what is still open
El Calafate gets nothing. You land there and you leave from there, but every night is Chaltén or Natales. Perito Moreno is not on this plan — neither of you selected it, and buying it back costs a Fitz Roy morning.
Chaltén is a 3 h round trip from the airport, taken at both ends. That is the price of putting four nights under Fitz Roy, and the Oct 29 drive pays some of it back by delivering the RP23 road shot in evening light.
Still unbooked: the rental car out of FTE, and — the bigger one — how you move around Torres del Paine once the bus drops you in Puerto Natales without a vehicle. See Day 08.
Read this first: schedule is window-driven, not fixed. Shoot Cerro Torre on the first clear window (it hides most days), and expect Laguna de los Tres frozen: white ice-bowl frame, not the turquoise postcard.

Day by day

01Tue Oct 27 — ATL15h 45m south
ATL → Buenos Aires, 15h 45m with a Lima layover. Nothing to shoot. Sleep on the plane — the first real light you see is two days out.
02Wed Oct 28 — Buenos Airescity night
Land Buenos Aires. Night in the city.
Buy the microspikes here if they are not already packed — nothing in El Chaltén is guaranteed to have your size. Check the Fitz Roy forecast tonight; it decides which day of the four is the summit-light day.
Note
Nothing in the spot catalog is within reach of Buenos Aires. This day is a transfer, not a shooting day.
03Thu Oct 29
Fly south, drive northSS 20:46 · last light 21:21
3 hFTE → Chaltén 5 hlight on landing RP23en route
Land El Calafate. Collect the rental car — this is the booking the whole Argentina leg depends on; without it the pre-dawn trailheads below do not work.
North on RP11 → RP40 → RP23. Roughly 3 h. You land with over five hours of daylight left: this drive is the shoot, not dead time.
RP23 road shot — Punto Panorámico, the massif head-on down the road. Sunset 20:46, last light 21:21. Do not blow past it to reach town.
Into El Chaltén. Check in, food, lay out gear for a 05:00 start if tomorrow is the clear window.
Backups & risk
Flight slips: a late FTE arrival costs the RP23 light, not a whole day. Shoot it on Nov 2 on the drive back instead — same road, same direction, morning light.
Wind: the RP40/RP23 junction is exposed. If the car is rocking, shoot from a pullout on the lee side rather than the tripod-in-the-open cliché.
04Fri Oct 30
Capri, then walk indawn 05:48 · SR 06:24 · SS 20:48
5.6 mito Poincenot 1,400 ftgain freecamp, day-before
First morning. Ease in — you have three full days here and the legs are still on a plane.
Laguna Capri from the Río Blanco trailhead. Reflection lake with the massif behind it; the walk doubles as the acclimatiser for tomorrow.
Back for the pack, then walk in to Poincenot and make camp. This is the whole reason tomorrow works: sleeping here puts you 40 min from the lake instead of 4 h.
Sunset from camp. Early night — the alarm is 04:30.
Backups & risk
Forecast flips: if tomorrow is socked in and Sun Nov 1 is clear, swap this day with Nov 1 and do Cerro Torre now. The camp books day-before, so the switch costs nothing.
Not camping: Laguna de los Tres from town is 13 mi round trip with 3,937 ft gain — doable, but it means leaving at 01:30 to make dawn. Camping is the better trade.
05Sat Oct 31
Fitz Roy alpenglowdawn 05:46 · SR 06:22
1.2 mimoraine climb 1,300 ftgain 04:30start
Up at camp. Microspikes ON — the moraine refreezes overnight and it is the biggest slip hazard of the trip.
Composed at Laguna de los Tres by civil dawn. Alpenglow lands before the 06:22 sunrise. Expect the lake frozen — shoot the white ice-bowl frame, not the turquoise postcard, then 70–200 for summit detail.
Laguna Sucia overlook, 200 yd south — the dead-tree graveyard and the drop into the basin. This is the frame most people miss because they turn round at the main lake.
Break camp, walk out, nap hard. You have earned it.
Backups & risk
Clagged in: Nov 1 is the second attempt — slide Cerro Torre to Nov 2 morning and shoot Chorrillo del Salto on the drive south instead.
Skip Cerro Madsen: class 3–4 scramble in spring snow. Not worth it on this trip.
06Sun Nov 1
Cerro Torre windowdawn 05:44 · SR 06:20 · SS 20:51
11 miround trip 1,300 ftgain rareclear summit
Out of town on the Laguna Torre trail. Cerro Torre hides most days — if the forecast says today is the window, today is the day regardless of what else was planned.
Laguna Torre at civil dawn: the tower over the glacial lake, icebergs in the foreground if the season has calved any.
Out. Afternoon is deliberately open — this is the buffer for weather, a second Fitz Roy attempt, or actually resting.
Last Chaltén sunset. Mirador de los Cóndores above town is 30–40 min for a wide of the whole massif at golden hour.
Backups & risk
Tower hidden: shoot the lake and the glacier and leave. Do not burn a second day waiting on it.
Pack tonight. Tomorrow ends in another country and the bus does not wait.
07Mon Nov 2
Border daySR 06:13 · bus 16:30
3 hdrive south 16:30bus, booked 22:00into Natales
Chorrillo del Salto at sunrise — 2.5 mi north of town, drive-up, waterfall in soft light. Last Argentine frame and the cheapest one on the list.
Drive south. Three hours to El Calafate. RP23 again in morning light if Oct 29 got weathered out.
Drop the rental at FTE or in town — confirm the return point when booking, they are not the same place. Eat properly; the bus has nothing.
Bus El Calafate → Puerto Natales (Zaahj, booked). Border formalities at Cerro Castillo. Arrive 22:00.
Backups & risk
Do not miss this bus. It is the single booked, unmovable item in the trip and the next one costs a day of Torres del Paine.
Border: no fresh fruit, meat or dairy across into Chile. Have the rental paperwork out — the crossing is routine but slow.
Perito Moreno is not on this plan. A morning visit means skipping the Chaltén sunrise and being back for the bus — tight but possible. Neither of you selected it.
08Tue Nov 3
Into the parkSR 06:12 · SS 21:00 · last 21:37
2 hNatales → park CLPentry, cash 21:00first sunset
Slow start — you got in at 22:00. Sort park transport and entry. This is the open question: the bus leaves you in Puerto Natales with no vehicle, and Torres del Paine is 2 h away with almost nothing running at dawn.
Into the park. Laguna Amarga on the way in — the towers reflected, with guanaco on the steppe if you are lucky.
Recce for tomorrow: find the Base de las Torres trailhead and time the approach in daylight so the 04:00 start is not a search party.
Sunset — Mirador Nordenskjöld or the Lago Nordenskjöld rock shelves, both roadside, both yours. Last light 21:37.
Backups & risk
Unresolved: how you move inside the park. Options are a second rental out of Puerto Natales, the Bus Sur / park shuttle (fixed times, no dawn service), or a lodge with transfers. Without wheels, the 04:00 Base de las Torres start on Nov 4 does not happen.
Park entry is paid online in advance now; do it before you leave Natales and carry the QR offline.
09Wed Nov 4
Base de las Torresdawn 05:32 · SR 06:10
12 miround trip 2,953 ftgain 04:00start
Head torches on. The last mile is a boulder field and it is genuinely slow in the dark — budget more than the map says.
At the Mirador Base de las Torres for civil dawn. The three towers catch first light before the 06:10 sunrise and hold it for minutes, not tens of minutes. Be composed and waiting.
Down. This is the hardest day of the trip on the legs — 12 mi and 2,953 ft with the climb front-loaded in the dark.
If anything is left: Hostería Pehoé island lookout at sunset — the Cuernos across the water, and one of your picks.
Backups & risk
Weather: the towers are in cloud more often than not. Nov 5 is the only retry and it is also the last day — decide the night before, not at 04:00.
Wind in the Ascencio valley is the real hazard, not the grade. If it is a named-storm day, stand this one down and shoot low.
10Thu Nov 5
Last lightdawn 05:31 · SR 06:09 · SS 21:03
lastshooting day 21:03final sunset
Whatever the week owes you. Retry the towers if Nov 4 was clagged; otherwise Lago Pehoé camp peninsulas at dawn — the Cuernos over the three bays, and your pick.
Work west and south: Salto Grande, Lago Grey if the icebergs are in, Mirador Río Serrano on the way back toward the southern entrance.
Back to Puerto Natales. Pack tonight — the 09:00 departure means leaving the hostel around 08:00 and there is no time to hunt for a lost charger.
Last sunset of the trip. Shoot it from wherever you are standing.
Backups & risk
This is the buffer day. Everything that weather stole earlier gets one attempt here. Do not fill it in advance.
11Fri Nov 6 — outdepart 09:00
Leave Puerto Natales. Nine-hour layover in Santiago — long enough to leave the airport and see the city if you both still have legs.
12Sat Nov 7 — ATLland 07:00
Back in Atlanta. Ten days, two countries, one rental car and one bus you could not afford to miss.

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