All along the barren expanse of Highway 23 leading into El Chalten, you slowly start to get teased with seeing the tip top of Mount Fitzroy. And that's really dependent on weather conditions, for most of the time clouds are hiding this majestic beauty. On this day driving in, the clouds just parted way to show her off. I immediately pulled over and somewhat risked life and limb to get this shot. Not only did the road rise upwards behind me, obscuring any view of oncoming traffic, the 60-70mph winds blocked out any sound of cars and the speed limit was pretty much non-existent here. Getting my settings set curbside, I would run out quickly, plop my camera on its tripod in the middle and fire off a burst of shots, and haul ass back. I was pleasantly surprised on how it turned out, considering the rush I was in the whole time.
Driving on the east side of the park, these were the views we were treated to at every turn. Beautiful rolling hills of farmlands, that first range of slow rolling brown scruffy hills and then the majestic mountain range of the cuernos. The Torres del Paine peaks stood proud and tall this day, of which two of three are in view, with the hidden one slightly peaking out from behind the clouds on the left. The tallest peak of the three, by a slight amount, is the hidden one behind the clouds called Torre Sur standing at about 8,200 feet. To its right in the middle is Torre Central at 8,100 feet and then to its right, Torre Norte at just under 7,500 feet. These and the whole Torres del Paine range of granite peaks were deeply and violently eroded by glaciers around 12 million years ago. As stunning as it is to see Torres del Pain now, I can only imagine how mind blowing it would be if one could see a time lapse of it getting carved out from the glaciers. Torres de Paine, Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region, Chile Google Maps Location photo was taken from: https://goo.gl/Ity0Ta
On our third and final leg of the lift up to Little Matterhorn, we had just boarded the twenty person gondola and taken off, when I spotted this view of the majestic Matterhorn. Having my camera at the ready, I stabilized my camera against the plexiglass and fired off a few shots. Until you are really up close to this magnificent mountain, you cannot even begin to feel how large it is and how small you feel before it, like tiny little ants. Clouds had just rolled in, kissing the tip of its peak. The snow peppering the mountainside, with rocks, boulders and craggy rock faces popping through, and a small lake nestled beneath made for such a beautiful moment. How could one pass that up? I for sure didn't. After taking a bunch, I put my camera aside to just bask in the beauty of the moment. Zermatt Switzerland Google Maps Location: http://goo.gl/O3Ufg
