One evening I’m sipping tea and see a familiar face arrive at the hostel. Judith had made it to Ushuaia and I told her about my plan to hike to the Vinciguerra glacier. The next day we hopped into an Uber to the trail head together. Our enthusiastic taxi driver was telling us all about her kids and her upcoming trip North for one of their weddings. She was a hairdresser but did Uber in the mornings to get some extra cash. We crossed the city and then drove up a long dirt road into the Andorra neighborhood. Although part of the city, everything felt more remote here and at the trailhead I already lost phone signal.
It was a warm 21 degree day, so I started in a t-shirt. We walked through the most beautiful meadow. It was filled with hundreds, thousands of tiny yelllow flowers. There was a river playfully meandering through the landscape and in the background we saw the mountains and the glacier. It already made for a great visit, even if we wouldn’t move another step. But we continued over a bridge and into the forest.
It didn’t take long until we started ascending, but for the most part we kept a steady pace and were even talking. We passed a family taking a rest. The presumably dad of the group commented that us women were stronger, when we kept going. We didn’t see them again. We met some guided groups later on and passed them at a big clearing. It was right before the final, very steep last stretch. It went up alongside the river and didn’t have any steps. It was just steep and all I could think was “how on earth am I going to get back down this?”
All scary parts eventually end and I saw a beautiful glacial lake with the glacier in the back. We could cross it over some stones and walk alongside of it to reach the glacier. Some parts were still covered in snow and there were some more small river crossings to get to the rock in front of the glacier. On of the streams had water being pushed through a hole, providing a nice fan of water. There were little waterfalls all over the glacier and some overhangs and holes at the base. We walked on some snow at the edge of the glacier but didn’t enter it for safety.
We found a nice rock from which we could admire it all while having some lunch. Clouds were drifting over, at times hiding the sun and it got a bit chillier up there. Cooled down after the break, I put on my jacket for the return journey. The steep bit wasn’t as scary as anticipated and going through the forest was very pleasant. We then sat in the meadow for a bit. Many people were enjoying the space, taking picnics. Eventually we had to get back, but still couldn’t get enough phone signal. We teamed up with two other travelers who had managed to get an uber and got dropped off close to the center. To finish off a great day we dropped by the ice cream place. I’m glad I got to do this hike in great company!
