What's on in El Chaltén (Fitz Roy), Argentina through the year

Peak crowds — Trekking season, Argentine summer holidays

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Trekking season (15 Oct – 15 Apr (usually)), Patagonian wind season (1 Nov – 28 Feb (usually)), Argentine summer holidays (20 Dec – 15 Feb)

Peak crowds — travelers describe it as peak season, Trekking season

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Trekking season (15 Oct – 15 Apr (usually)), Patagonian wind season (1 Nov – 28 Feb (usually)), Argentine summer holidays (20 Dec – 15 Feb)

Peak crowds — Trekking season, Summer holidays in Argentina

• Festival

  Fiesta Nacional del Trekking

  12–26 Mar · usuallyMajor festival

  The town's own weekend in mid-March: a race down from the Torre viewpoint, a woodcutting contest, a craft fair and music in the gym, dated to the first Argentine attempt on Fitz Roy in 1948. Source ↗

Still on: Trekking season (15 Oct – 15 Apr (usually))

Busy — Trekking season

• Nature

  Lenga forests turning

  1 Apr – 10 May · usuallyAutumn colour

  The beech slopes under Fitz Roy go red and copper for about five weeks, with the first snow on the tops behind them. The trails are still open and almost nobody is on them.

Still on: Trekking season (15 Oct – 15 Apr (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

• Season

  Winter shutdown

  1 May – 30 Sep · usuallyOff-season shutdownClosures

  Most hostels, the restaurants and every guiding outfit close from May, buses drop to a few a week, and what stays open is for climbers waiting on a weather window.

Still on: Lenga forests turning (1 Apr – 10 May (usually))

Quiet — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in June.

Still on: Winter shutdown (1 May – 30 Sep (usually))

Busy — Winter recess in Argentina, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Winter shutdown (1 May – 30 Sep (usually))

Quiet — one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Winter shutdown (1 May – 30 Sep (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in September.

Still on: Winter shutdown (1 May – 30 Sep (usually))

Busy — Trekking season

• Season

  Trekking season

  15 Oct – 15 Apr · usuallyTrail seasonCrowded

  Laguna de los Tres and Cerro Torre start from the last street in town, and from mid-October to mid-April they go without winter kit. The final steep kilometre to the lagoon is a queue in January.

Busy — Trekking season

• Season

  Patagonian wind season

  1 Nov – 28 Feb · usuallyRisk

  The westerlies are hardest through the summer and gusts on the exposed sections above the treeline knock walkers over. Guides start early and turn people round at the last climb.

Still on: Trekking season (15 Oct – 15 Apr (usually))

Peak crowds — Trekking season, Argentine summer holidays

• Holiday

  Argentine summer holidays

  20 Dec – 15 FebSchool holidaysCrowdedBook early

  The village has a few hundred beds and January books them all out months ahead, campsites included. Arriving without a reservation means sleeping in El Calafate and driving three hours each way. Source ↗

Still on: Trekking season (15 Oct – 15 Apr (usually)), Patagonian wind season (1 Nov – 28 Feb (usually))