UKH

Looking for advice on whether the Winter conditions are too fierce for trekking in

Tierra del Fuego and
Annapurna
Patagonia

all in July.

Would be after trekking around the mountainous regions, without actually undertaking any mountaineering.

Trying to work out the viability of a few trips and could do with some advice to narrow it down.

Cheers

Mat

In reply to mat_galvin:

Tierra del Fuego: you can probably go skiing at that time of the year. (ski pistes above Ushuaia)
Patagonia: the winds were fierce in summer (Oct) and the temperatures quite low (I was wearing what I would wear in the UK in the winter for a hike in cold weather), I would expect quite a bit of snow on all the trekking paths in July. It might be possible with snowshoes?
Annapurna: I would expect rain every afternoon and lots of leeches! But the paths would be free of tourists. You might need to carry quite a bit of food as some teahouses will be closed down for the season.

Have a look at the website of the companies doing treks and see whether they are organising something at the time you want to go: if they don't then that would give you a clue.

In reply to mat_galvin:

Hi Mat,

I was in Patagonia doing some easy treks during may and june 2007 and the weather was fantastic. many of the trails were signposted as closed, but when i asked why the answer was 'because of deep mud'!

In fact the ground was frozen, and not much snow had fallen yet, so it was fine.

I stuck to fairly well known areas such as Cerro Torre basecamp and Fitzroy basecamp (easy two or three day trek).

I also went to Tierra del Fuego in june, and there was quite a bit of snow right the way down to sea level, so i imagine in July there would be quite a bit!

For about half of my trip I was with GVI (see the 'extreme conservation in patagonia' premier post). part of the trip was a guided mountaineering expedition (though fairly low level) organised by Extremely Patagonia- now called The Patagonia Mountaineering School. They are based in Coihaique, Chile and are absolutely brilliant. ( see the programme about Andy Kirkpatrick and Karen Darke on iplayer at the mo - they used extremely patagonia as well).

Freddie

In reply to frecro:

oh, and in terms of temperature - it wasnt too bad, even right down south - think of it like a good Scottish winter season! - I was bivying alone, even down on T del F and it wasnt too bad.

In reply to frecro:
Ace-thank you to all for the info.

Is T d F worth the long journey? It's somewhere that has always winked at me from a world map. There again, it's a long way to go to be disappointed!! Imagine it's stunning, remote mountain/coastal scenery? Is that close to the truth?

Are there any trekking companies you would recommend for either of the venues?

The aspect that puts me off for Pataguchi is the long transfer from BA to Patagonia. Is there anyway around it? I imagine it ups the price, with internal flights/transfers.

Where is the best place to fly into for trekking in T d F?

Would be looking to do some charity work too (hopefully around 20 16-19 year olds on board), so any ideas on this appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Mat

In reply to mat_galvin:

Mat, I can lend you some info on Patagonia. Its five or so years old now but there's some good info on average temps/ wind speeds throughout the year. Supposedly the weather is more stable and less windy in winter, though watch the relevant section of Psyche before you believe that.

One thing to take into consideration is that its on a similar latitude to the uk so quite short days in the middle of winter. Not ideal for keeping schoolkids occupied outdoors...

We flew Santiago via the US then an internal flight to Punta Arenas, and from there caught buses to Paine and Fitzroy. Not sure whether the buses are as regular in winter though I know the roads are much improved in recent years. I think though the best route is to fly to Buenos Aires then internal flight to Calafate - very handy for Fitzroy though less so for Paine.

Not usre how to get around Tierra del Fuego but most Antarctic cruises operate out of Ushuaia on the south coast so getting there shouldn't be a problem.

In reply to mat_galvin: i went round patagonia in april a few years back and pretty much everything was moving north to bariloche. chalten was a ghost town.

i'd recommend buying your flights from buenos aires to ushaia (sp.?) internally as they seemed much cheaper than buying them in europe.

In reply to mat_galvin:

I've not been in winter but spent spring and autumn there on 2 occasions whilst writing a trekking/travel book to Fitzroy area (see www.colinhenderson.co.uk).

As Adam said, winter is supposed to be more stable weather but can be very cold (minus 20 in Thomas Ulrich's Torre film). I used snow shoes in October one time.

Book's got lots of info on treks, etc. but happy to answer any questions by email.

In reply to Colin Henderson:
Thanks again. Not sure if it will be too much for the kids, but if we can get something which sits on the safe side of pushing it, the exped could be amazing!

In reply to mat_galvin:

T del F is amazing - seems very flat until you get close to ushaia then its like the alps!

I used buses to get around as they are very cheap, and also fantastic - much more comfortable than an aeroplane and all meals provided - even a glass of wine!

I did fly once internally - from Ushaia to El Calefate (the closest airport to El Chalten and fitzroy etc). For this dont use Aerolineas, there is another domestic airline that is much cheaper. Cant remember the name of it, but it was described to me as the'government airline'...they had a shop in Ushaia.