Fitzroy and Cerro Torre

Mount Fitzroy and Cerro Torre, Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina

Passing clouds create a dance of shadow and light on the granite facades of the southern Andes within Argentina’s Los Glaciares National Park, revealing both Mount Fitzroy and Cerro Torre, a sheer, needle-shaped tower once considered unclimbable and not ascended successfully until 1974. This unique view is seldom seen because clouds generally shroud these vertical granite monoliths throughout most of the year. To gain this view, I trekked for eight days on the vast Patagonian Ice Cap, which spans both Chile and Argentina and is the largest continental ice field outside the Antarctic. Countless glaciers slide down from the ice field, spilling off into enormous lakes. On the fourth day of our trek, we set up camp in a blinding snowstorm directly west of Mount Fitzroy and Cerro Torre. Thirty-six hours later the storm broke, yielding this spectacular panorama.